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

Daily Morning Lesson: June 8, 2026

Part 2: Baal HaSulam. Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Original lesson date: 03/08/2001

Student: We are going to continue. After such a rich lesson about the perception of reality, we will just continue what the Rav explained. A small quote: “We need to perform a restriction, put a screen above it, and the more we can step on it — on the egoism, not the screen — thus, we can build above it the nine Sefirot, the first nine Sefirot.” That's what we will learn. So, we're continuing. You remember where we stopped last time, right? The Rav explains the four phases of direct light, and now we're going to continue to the world of restriction, where he'll explain to us how a spiritual Partzuf is created, what's the screen, what's reflected light, and all those things he'll explain to us.

Student: Yes, and as we heard in the lesson, we're going to try, during the studies, to go from my own movie to his movie, to go into the world that Baal HaSulam and the Rav are presenting to us. And we'll learn, and we'll hear the Rav explaining this part of the four phases, entering the work with the screen, by really trying to enter his movie. We'll start with clip 13, in order to aim our intentions. 

M. Laitman: (01:27) I yearn to be within the system. I am in there now too, but disconnected. To know is called, "and man knew Eve, his wife." To know is to connect. Knowledge is a coupling. Hence, I want to know, I want to be connected. In spiritually, that's what it means to know. When you connect, then you know. If you don't connect, nothing will help you. That's called spiritual reason, not reason in our corporeality and externality. Hence, what am I reading about? About the actions in the system. By me yearning to be in the system, to also be in order to bestow, to also be connected with everyone, in order to discover out of my efforts as well the Creator inside these desires — so by this, I awaken the reforming light upon myself. I connect, specifically when I do it in a group, where between us, we build this system of connection. And then the study becomes a prayer, which is the main part of the Torah study, which is a request.

Student: Now we're going to go… we're going to watch a lesson. Each one writes down their discernments, their questions, and to just stick to what the Rav is saying, follow him. You'll see in the lesson, he won't let anybody deviate right or left — just, let's follow him.

M. Laitman: (03:33) So Malchut, the last, fourth phase, which has already a desire to receive of her own, feels that she is receiving according to her independent desire. So in her, there's truly the reception of the pleasure, and she feels that she enjoys. But the light starts to give her, again, His qualities, just like in phase one. You see, they're similar. She receives the same light that phase one received. Only in phase one, the desire was also from above, from the Creator. And in phase four, the desire is from the created beings; himself, he wants to receive. Hence, he feels that he's receiving, because now the light gives him a feeling of Him being the bestower. So it turns out that Malchut feels the gap between her and the light, where light is the Creator, and the Malchut of this Kli is the created being. And she feels this difference, this gap. And as a result of this, she's left with a sensation of shame. And as a result of the feeling of shame, which is opposite to the light that fills her — here, as a result of the feeling of being different to the light — it received a desire to bestow it from it. Here, the feeling that she gets from this, from the Creator and being different to Him, opposite Him, what's born is a different action called a restriction. This Malchut says, I don't want to receive anything, and expels the light; nothing remains other than an emptiness. And this Malchut, who is emptied by the light, is called the restricted Malchut, the Malchut of the first restriction. Malchut filled with light, we can call the world of Ein Sof; and Malchut which was emptied of light, we can call the world of restriction. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (06:20) What does it mean, to enjoy? 

M. Laitman: Is it clear what I'm saying or not? Only the stages. So, I'm repeating them again. What we need to remember: light comes from the Creator; it creates a Kli. What's a Kli? A desire to enjoy Him. Light is pleasure. The Kli is a deficiency, a desire to enjoy the light. The pleasure fills the Kli, the desire; the light fills the Kli. When the light fills the vessel, there are two parallel languages. Either I'm talking about the human language — pleasure and lack, and desire — or I'm talking about Ohr and Kli, light and Kli. We're used to talking in lights and vessels. For the time being, I'm also talking in the parallel language. So the Creator, who gives the pleasure, wants to give pleasure to the created being, creates a deficiency for the pleasure. The pleasure is called light, a lack is called desire. The vessel that receives the light and enjoys it receives from it not just the pleasure, receives from it also the nature of the light, and becomes like the nature. Just like the light wants to bestow, the vessel wants to bestow as well. So the Kli we had before, in phase one, became the phase two, the vessel of phase two that wants to give, to bestow. To who? To the Creator. Why? Just like the Creator wants to give him, on the other side, he wants to receive that quality from the Creator and give to Him. It wants to bestow, but it has nothing to bestow. So what does it decide? It thinks, how can I give and bring contentment to the Creator? There's a lack in the Creator that I can give Him. What's that lack? That if I will receive, He'll have pleasure. It's a state where I will enjoy it. So what does phase three that comes out of this do? She opens a part of giving back somewhat from phase one. And she says, I'll receive like in phase one, but because I want to give, to bestow contentment to the Creator by this. And then we have phase three, the next stage of development, which includes both parts. This is the part that wants to bestow, and because he wants to bestow, he receives. And then comes phase four. What does she decide here? She decides, I want to receive all the light fully. Why? Because I decide that for these two parts that are certainly equal, receiving is the closest to them. Why? Because that's how the created being has been created, to begin with. And then it goes and gets corrected. We will go through this thing together with the screen. Maybe it'll be more clear to us.

M. Laitman: (10:02) What did we learn besides that? Words, names of these phases, of these discernments, of these degrees. Root - the light that comes to the Creator. Phase one - the vessel, the first vessel that was created. Phase two - the second vessel that wants to bestow. The third phase - the third Kli that's mixed from the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. And the fourth phase - Behina Dalet is the Malchut that wants to receive. Malchut, from the word, the kingdom of the desire. That's where the desire really is in control. What is this Malchut? It is the created being, and we will talk about it later. And all the previous discernments, from Malchut up, we do not talk about. These are the stages of the building of Malchut. And what happens later, happens only in Malchut. This is how we'll continue talking. Malchut, which is filled with light, completely according to her desire, where she decides and she wants. It's not that the desire of the created being that was created. It was happening through development. So, this Malchut is called Olam, or world. And all the states that will be, every state of Malchut will be a world, which is filled with light unlimitedly. The filling without limitation is called no-ending, meaning Ein Sof. Ein Sof, no limitation. That's it. That's the meaning. That is, if my cup of coffee was filled 100%, it would also be called Ein Sof. There's no boundary. Everything the vessel can contain is filled. So, Malchut that is being filled all the way, it's called Malchut of Ein Sof. Then, she feels that once more she's opposite the light that's here. And the light that in phase one gave to the Kli to bestow, gave the vessel a feeling that it's opposite the vessel. And here too, it gives it a feeling that it's opposite from the Creator. But the vessel can't be a bestowing, because desire is her desire. She can't invert her desire. It's really — that's it. That's the end of the vessel. The desire to receive in Malchut, that's it. It's final. It's the first time that it emerges, and it's the final. It's emerged forever. This is where he became independent. What is this desire? It's the desire to receive. So, what does she feel then, Malchut? She feels the opposite with her qualities to the light, the extent to which she's opposite to it. And then, as a consequence, we call that feeling the feeling of shame, where the Creator is the great one, more than me, and it gives her, and she'll come, and she's inverted opposite it, according to this quality. Now, the Creator brings it to a very special quality called the first restriction. What does this mean? Her unpleasant source of sensation is what fills her. And she says, I don't want to feel that. Why? It lets me feel that I'm opposite. And there's no choice. The light is expelled. That's called the first restriction, and the empty Malchut is called the world of restriction. Why world? Every state of Malchut is called world. The word "world," Olam, from the word He'elem — concealment. Okay. I'm saying again: in our course, in these few lessons, we are not entering too much into the why, but that's how it is. But after we learn, with the time of the studies, you'll see how each and everything needs to be related to in such a way. 

M. Laitman: (15:18) Whoever — you can buy this tape; it's our previous lesson. And there's the sketches I drew last time also, so you get it with the videotape. So, after we learn that we have Malchut — this Malchut is the entire created being. Except for it and the Creator, there is nothing. Creator and created being. That created being is called Malchut, and it is actually the will to receive. Again, what is the will to receive? In Kabbalah, we don't say much. We say the will to receive. But actually, we should add: what is the will to receive? What do you want to receive? Pleasure and joy. Meaning, the will to receive, means the desire to enjoy. Pleasure and joy. Now. This is actually the entire essence of the created being: the will to receive, and we call it phase four. So, phase four, as we were saying, is the will to receive which restricted itself and pushed all the light away and remains empty. In this state, it's called the restricted Malchut. She restricted herself. What did she say? If pleasure comes towards me, I will drive it out. I do not want to feel it. Why? Because I'm suffering. Instead of enjoying it, I'm suffering by getting filled with it. This response — that the pleasure came to it after she drove it out, and she says, I'm not going to receive it — this response is called a coupling by striking, and it takes place on the screen. What does that mean? In the first restriction, first of all, there was Malchut of Ein Sof. Then there was Malchut of the first restriction, which drove the light out. The third action: Malchut said, I will not receive anything, even when the pleasure comes. So there's a decision from Malchut to put a screen. Malchut with the screen. What is the screen? It's a force of resistance that I do not want to receive. The light comes to me from the Creator. The light that comes is called direct light. And the screen pushes it back and says, I do not want to receive anything. And then what goes back from the screen to the Creator is called reflected light. Reflected light and direct light. 

M. Laitman: (19:43) The screen is the force of resistance. After Malchut, with the screen, drives the light out of her, she starts thinking, what did she do? She just said by this, that she won't receive for herself — like the action of Bina, like phase two that we had, that also said, I'm not going to receive anything. Think first. And then she says, if I'm going to receive after I rejected everything, like phase two rejected after phase one, now, when she's receiving, she's receiving because she's rejecting, and only for the Creator. So, now when Malchut rejects, this action is resembling Hochma, and this action is resembling Bina. Now, if she receives, she'll receive exactly like phase three. What was that? That she really received only in order to give pleasure to the Creator. In phase three, it's the Creator creating everything. Also phase one, then phase two, and phase three responded in that way. Now, when the will to receive is the actual will to receive of the created being, so now if he will receive, it'll truly be bestowal. And Malchut decides, I rejected all the light, obviously I'm not going to receive in order to enjoy on my own. I'm going to receive it in order to bestow to Him, because He's already enjoying it, so that's why I'm going to receive. And she calculates and takes a bit inside of her. When rejecting and calculating, that is called Rosh — the place where she does that calculation, the head. The place she receives the light inside and enjoys, that's called Toch, the inner part, meaning in the vessels where she receives. But she can't receive the entire light and fill herself. Why? There, she can receive from Malchut of Ein Sof and fill herself with all the light, so why not here? Because her will to receive is her own, and to withstand against it, that's impossible. Then, the four phases of direct light — all those phases — she says it's qualities she got from above, it still wasn't her own. Here, she feels that it's her desire. That's why she can, even a bit, to receive, and in the rest remain empty. If she fills that part, that'll be completely reception for itself, without thinking that she's doing it for the Creator. So this part that remains empty is called Sof, the end. And this whole structure, this whole structure — including the light that came from the Creator, direct and reflected — all of this is called a Partzuf.

M. Laitman: (24:07) So I'll add here that Malchut with a screen,  then we have Malchut that rejects, we call it reflected light; then Malchut that receives a bit, called inner light. This part that she receives inside, that's called inner light, because she receives it inside, in the desire. If so, Malchut — from the direct light that came to her — rejected her completely, and only received part of it, called inner light in the Toch. So the light against the Sof that comes, the direct light, called Malchut, should fill the entire Malchut, right? This direct light that came has to fill the entire Malchut. Now, if we only have a part of it — meaning the direct light becomes a bit of inner light — so part of it remains on the outside, and that is called surrounding light. What is this surrounding light? The inner light comes from the Creator, the direct light, and then the inner light is in the Partzuf, so the surrounding should have been in the Sof, and gradually we'll see how it does fill Malchut all the way, all the way till the end, until all the light enters. It's not the light of Bina; the Bina is rejecting; it resembles the action of Bina, phase two. So, now we have learned a few new terms. Again, I'm going to repeat them, then you can ask. From the Creator comes light called direct light. Malchut is, after the restriction, she doesn't want to receive the light. The desire to reject it and not receive is called the Masach, the screen, the force of rejection. It wants to push, to stand against her natural desire. She rejects the light back to the Creator, and that's called reflected light, because Malchut rejected the light, and it's clear to her that she's willing to stand against all the temptations. Now she can calculate: how much can I still receive that it'll be for the Creator, that if I receive now it'll be for Him? Then she decides that she's going to receive. Why? She calculates and sees that she can receive only a part of the light that won't come in order to enjoy it, but in order to give joy to the Creator. And then she decides and receives the light that comes inside. Let's say, 20% of the direct light she'll take inside, in the inner light. The part of Malchut that takes the light inside is called Toch. The part that remains empty is called Sof. Why Sof? She puts an end there and says, I'm not going to receive here. Why Toch? That she wants to fill it with light. It's very simple, names according to the deeds. 

M. Laitman: (29:18) I'll say when it's possible to ask. The direct light that came to Malchut is divided into inner light, and the part that remains on the outside is called surrounding light. So then we get that direct light equals the inner light plus surrounding light. The inner light enters the Toch. The surrounding light is destined to reach the Sof, but for now, it's standing on the outside. When will it fill the Sof? When there'll be a screen that is so big that it can receive the entire light in order to bestow to the Creator. That, we'll learn later. So this structure of Malchut, after the first restriction — when she thinks how much light she can receive inside, how much to receive, how much not to receive — all this system together is called a Partzuf, a spiritual object. So, we went through a few things here. I'll repeat again. Malchut of Ein Sof that received all the light, felt the shame, made the first restriction, said she can't receive the light that comes afterwards; then comes the light and rejects it. And the light that she rejected is called the reflected light. Then she decided that she will receive part of it. That's called inner light. So, a few more names: Rosh is called where we do the calculation, Toch is where we receive the light, and Sof is where we cannot receive the light. The place that the screen stands is called Peh, in Hebrew, mouth. The separation between the place that receives the light and the place that doesn't is called a Tabur. The end of the Partzuf, the end of all the desires, is called the end, Sium. That's the structure of the Partzuf.