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

Daily Morning Lesson: August 9, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - October 31, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work?

Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson we'll learn from a recorded lesson with Rav Laitman from October 31st, 2021. The article is in Shamati, article 52 in Shamati. We will continue in this article. 

The article is Shamati 52, “What is the Acronym ALUL in the Work?” So we're continuing.

Reading: (00:45) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

However, only those who wish to turn their vessels of reception to work only in bestowal and not receive anything for themselves are written in the book of the righteous. It is so that there will not be room for one to say, “Had I known that the will to receive must be revoked, I would not have prayed for it” (so that he will not say afterward, “This is not what I had sworn to”). 

Hence, one must unreservedly say what he means by being registered in the book of the righteous, so he will not complain later.

We must know that in the work, the book of the righteous and the book of the wicked are in the same person. It means that one must make a choice and clearly know what he wants because wicked and righteous relate to the same person.

M. Laitman: It is clear, isn't it? It's all in one person. One has to make a choice, and like he says here, unreservedly know what he wants. 

Reading: (03:06) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

Hence, one must say if he wants to be written in the book of the righteous, to be immediately for life, meaning adhere to the Life of Lives, that he wants to do everything for the Creator.

M. Laitman: Do we want that, disconnecting from ourselves and be devoted to the Creator only?

Reading: (03:32) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

In addition, when he comes to be written in the book of the wicked, where all those who wish to be receivers for themselves are written, he says that they should be written there to death at once, meaning that the will to receive for himself will be revoked in him, as if it had died.

Yet, sometimes one is doubtful. In other words, one does not want his will to receive to be revoked in him at once. It is hard for him to decide at once that all his sparks of reception will be put to death at once, meaning he does not agree that all his desires for reception will be annulled in him at once.

Instead, he wants the sparks of reception to be annulled in him gradually and slowly, not all at once, meaning that the vessels of reception will operate some, and some the vessels of bestowal.  

M. Laitman: Or intermittently, one time this, one time the other. This is easier to understand. 

Question (ITA 4): (05:08) If everything comes from the Creator, why do we have free choice in being righteous or wicked? 

M. Laitman: It's clear, everything comes from the Creator, but the Creator wants you to be like Him, to know good and bad, to know how to distinguish things, to discern things, to be above creation, not to be like an animal that receives and lives, and it knows, or it's a little better for it, and a little worse, and then it never makes mistakes. It follows its own qualities, and it finds the best possible place, and never makes mistakes. Whereas a person, man, specifically, by making mistakes, and not knowing, and having doubts, where does it come from? It's because he keeps climbing to a higher degree each time, and he doesn't have any vessels there, so in order for him to develop his vessels to higher states, then he goes through states of above reason, and good and bad, and unknown, and disconnected from reality. The Creator is seemingly inside the beast, and He governs it, manages it a hundred percent. There's no difference between His governance and what the animal does. It's precise, it's like when you activate a toy that you've built. Whereas man was built in a state of freedom of choice. The Creator created a certain toy, and gave this toy an opportunity, a free choice, to be more or less like Him, or not at all like Him, or completely to be like Him. And this toy has to look and teach himself which states are better, and which states are worse. That's according to one's feeling, and also to develop with the understanding which states are better to be in, and which are less. So how? By starting to develop a special idea in it, an exalted upper idea. It's called the point in the heart. That toy is saying, “I wish to be connected to the upper force.” Why? I don't feel any pleasure from it. Right, correct. The scrutiny is not in the vessels of pleasure and suffering. Rather, it's in the vessels of understanding, intelligence. I am yearning for that. And people, everyone actually, have such discernments that are pulling them towards higher things. Look how much power and energy and time and pain people spend in order to develop all those things that have nothing to do with the beastly body. Music, literature, religions, belief systems, science, all kinds of things. What's in it? There's a higher form of fulfillment compared to the body. That's it. It's higher, more elevated, whereas the animate, the Greek cannot enjoy it. So we need to understand that there is more in us, and we have to develop that part. In order to develop it, in order to push us towards it, the Creator activates all sorts of torments in the corporeal level. So you would also develop an appreciation, an impression of spirituality. We see it all over the world in all the nations, in all times, there is such a mix between corporeal life and seemingly spiritual life, even to a small degree. Look what's happening in the world. And that's why our work is to distinguish between the degree of man and the degree of animal in us, and try to allow our human to develop.

Question (ITA 3): (10:39) It's right here in that point in the article, that the will to receive really resists this transition. I wanted to ask whether here the vessels invert from reception to bestowal at this point? 

M. Laitman: The will to receive will never desire an act of bestowal, never. But we can bring it to a state where the upper light will influence it. And we bring it there through deception, by lying to it. We join a group, we join all these studies that raise our ego. I'm not simply one of those people who is running around from work to shopping, and back to work, and back to shopping again. I want to feel, understand, do something about my life, understand how life is organized. That's why the will to receive supports this specific way of attaining spirituality. So we have to constantly go against the will to receive, but the way we travel at sea against the wind, we attack against the wind, that's how it is.

Student: So we have to kind of caress the will to receive, take it on a journey, and then gradually bring it into the Ten, into the friends? 

M. Laitman: Yes, in this way, gently, don't pressure it, don't break it, don't obligate it, otherwise it will try to get back at us. Rather do it using the same means Kabbalists are writing about. 

Reader: We'll start again from the paragraph, “Yet sometimes.”

Reading: (13:07) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

Yet, sometimes one is doubtful. In other words, one does not want his will to receive to be revoked in him at once. It is hard for him to decide at once that all his sparks of reception will be put to death at once, meaning he does not agree that all his desires for reception will be annulled in him at once.

Instead, he wants the sparks of reception to be annulled in him gradually and slowly, not all at once, meaning that the vessels of reception will operate some, and some the vessels of bestowal. It follows that this person has no firm and clear view.

A firm view is that on one hand, he claims “It is all mine,” meaning all for the purpose of the will to receive. On the other hand, he claims that it is all for the Creator. This is called a “firm view.” Yet, what can one do if the body disagrees with his view of wanting to be entirely for the Creator?

In that state, you can say that this person does everything he can to be entirely for the Creator, meaning he prays to the Creator to help him be able to execute all his desires only for the sake of the Creator. It is for that that we pray, “Remember us for life and write us in the book of life.”

This is the meaning of the word “Malchut,” meaning that one will take upon himself the quality of the black dot that has no white in it. This is the meaning of “Annul your will” so that the memory of you will come up before Me, and then He will annul His will before your will. With what? With a Shofar [ram’s horn], meaning with the Shofar of the mother, meaning the matter depends on repentance.

In other words, if one accepts the blackness, one should also try that it will be in an honorable manner, and not in a disgraceful manner. This is called “the Shofar of the Mother,” meaning that one will regard it as beauty and honor.

Question (Unity 2): (16:51) You said that the light turns the will to receive into some kind of a lie. If the will to receive prefers to remain in this lie, then …  

M. Laitman: I don't understand what you're saying. Can you speak properly? Open your mouth. 

Student: Well, I'll repeat. You said that the light influences the desire gradually and brings it to... Okay, I'll ask later on.

M. Laitman: Okay, you should write to me later. Maybe I'll reply. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (17:20) He writes that the body does not agree with this view to annul the will to receive at once. So, what's correct here? Should I do that at once? 

M. Laitman: You can't do it, but if you'll check how much you can, how much you can't, you'll see that you are willing to a small extent to let your desire to receive change, to bestow, but not completely, not entirely. To what extent? To the extent that you're certain you're going to gain something from it and not more. 

Student: What does it mean that I allow the desire to receive to change? 

M. Laitman: This is the meaning that I'm changing the will to receive. I will let it work with the intention to bestow, to some extent. 

Student: So, each time during a prayer or work in the Ten, I have to completely detach my will to receive? 

M. Laitman: Yes, there's a condition in spirituality. There's nothing partial in spirituality. If you go for a certain action, you have to go all the way. It might be a small action that works short term, but you have to accept it as if this is the most important thing, and you're going for it full steam. Otherwise, it will not work. This is called, this is the law. There's nothing… no partial act in spirituality. This comes to us from the fact that we're using the Sefirot, these discernments in ours, and these discernments are discrete. So, if you're taking them, if you're going to use them, you have to use them completely. Where are we?

Reader: We are in the word “Accordingly.”

Reading: (19:36) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

Accordingly, we should interpret what is written, “The sons of Gershon, Libni and Shimei.” If one sees that he has been expelled from the work, one should know that this is due to Libni,2 meaning because he specifically wants whiteness. In other words, if he is given the whiteness, meaning that everything one does will shine, which means that he will feel a good taste in the Torah and in prayer, he will be willing to listen and engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments].

This is the meaning of “Shimei.”3 It means that it is precisely through a form of “whiteness” that one can hear. However, during the work one sees a shape of black and cannot agree to hear of taking upon himself this work. Hence, he must be expelled from the King’s hall, for reception of the kingdom of heaven must be unconditional surrender.

However, when one says that he is willing to take upon himself the work on condition that there will be a shape of white, meaning that the day will shine for him, and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s hall.

M. Laitman: Read this again. 

Reading: Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

However, when one says that he is willing to take upon himself the work on condition that there will be a shape of white, meaning that the day will shine for him, and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s hall.

Reader: Again, 

Reading: and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s hall.

M. Laitman: This is clear, yes? 

Reading: (22:16) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

This is because those who wish to work in order to bestow are admitted into the King’s hall, and when one works in order to bestow, he does not mind what he feels during the work.

Rather, even in a state where he sees a shape of black, he is not impressed by it, but he only wants the Creator to give him strength to be able to overcome all the obstacles. It means that he does not ask the Creator to give him a shape of white, but to give him the strength to overcome all the concealment.

M. Laitman: So, it turns out that in states of black, he awakens to the Creator to ask, because he's got something to ask for, and he's glad that he has a reason to ask. And he is glad that he's got contact with the Creator, because he has a real deficiency. And then it turns out that he is happy about the descent, if you can call them descents, even more than with the ascents, because in descents is when he feels the real passion for the Creator. 

Reading: (23:56) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

Hence, those people who want to work in order to bestow, if there is always a state of whiteness, the whiteness does not allow one to continue in the work. 

Reader: There is an addition you wrote, Rav, that the whiteness does not let one continue in the work. This is because, while it shines, one is able to work even in the form of reception for oneself. Hence, one will never be able to know if his work is in purity or not, and this causes him never to be able to be awarded Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.

M. Laitman: In other words, precisely in the black states, although there we don't feel the connection in practice, we're actually in a state of yearning and in the direction toward the Creator. This is called “making light and creating darkness.” That precisely out of creation of darkness we get a hold of Him. This is why those black states, if we change our attitude toward them, we will really succeed in everything. We will understand the Creator and how He works. 

Reading: (25:40) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

For this reason, he is given from above a form of blackness, and then he sees if his work is in purity.

This means if one can be in gladness in the state of blackness too, it is a sign that his work is in purity. 

M. Laitman: If he wants to bestow, then there's no difference if he's in the darkness or in the light. Or in the darkness even more than in the light, because in the darkness he has a reason to connect, to demand, to approach the Creator. He's not asking for fillings, for fulfillments. He's asking for vessels. Go on.

Reading: (26:19) Shamati 42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work.

This means that if one can be in gladness in a state of blackness, too, it is a sign that his work is in purity, since one must be glad and believe that from above he was given an opportunity to be able to work in order to bestow.

This is as our sages said, “All who are greedy are angry.” It means that one who is immersed in self-reception is angry, since he is always lacking. He forever needs to satisfy his vessels of reception.

However, those who want to walk in the path of bestowal should always be in gladness. This means that in any shape that comes upon him he should be in gladness since he has no intention to receive for himself. This is why he says that either way, if he is really working in order to bestow, he should certainly be glad that he has been granted bringing contentment to his Maker. And if he feels that his work is still not to bestow, he should also be glad because for himself, he says that he does not want anything for himself. He is happy that the will to receive cannot enjoy this work, and that should give him joy. However, if he thinks that he will also have something for himself from this work, he permits the Sitra Achra [other side] to cling to his work, and this causes him sadness, anger, and so forth.

Question (Tel Aviv 3): (28:37) When a person sees black, he needs to depict something against it. He can't do something only because it's black, right? 

M. Laitman: When a person feels black, it depends on the preparation, what he went through. Out of this, you can say whether he's got something or not. 

Student: How can a person check if he really puts the condition of whiteness, or if he's willing to work only if it's black? 

M. Laitman: I told you, it all depends on the preparation. How does he know in advance? He should always yearn to be as much as possible toward bestowal from himself to the group, from the group to the Creator. And in this way, he will not be wrong in his approach.

Student: But then comes a state where everything is black, and then what? 

M. Laitman: Precisely in a state where he doesn't see anything. This is why we are in the corporeal world, where we can, in this world too, build all kinds of connections. Corporeal connections. 

Student: So the connection takes them out of it? 

M. Laitman: Only the connection. Only the corporeal connection. From this you begin to work. This is why it's written, either company or death. Society or death.

Question (PT 35): (30:26) How can a person reach a decision that he only wants to bestow, and not sometimes receive and sometimes bestow? 

M. Laitman: Only through help from above. But the Creator helps a person to the extent that a person shows that he really needs it.

Question (Turkiye 1): (30:54) Can you explain a bit more what is the Shofar of the mother? 

M. Laitman: No, the Shofar [the horn]. We will learn it another time. These are names, signs, symbols.

Student: I think he means Shofar, the ima that was written here. 

M. Laitman: Okay, so it's not Shofar. It's a Shofar, the greatness of Ima. It's how much a person respects the greatness of Bina. That's the Shofar. Meaning, well, Shofar and Shufar are the same. It is how much we respect the degree of Bina, the essence of Bina, what she does toward Malchut, that all the corrections come from her.

Question (Revadim): (31:58) In the state of blackness or darkness, when we overcome and ask for connection, why does that give greater contentment to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Because you awaken from the dark, from a state where you are completely in the will to receive in order to receive. And you have only one spark. It's a point of Keter by which you can begin to emerge from your state to the light. And therefore, to the extent that you grow in this way, and the more you try to grow, to come out of that state, by this you bring contentment to the Creator, because you can only emerge on condition that you attain the greatness of the spiritual state. And to that extent, you'll have the strength to come out of the darkness. And by this, you try, with all your means, to obtain the greatness of the Creator over the greatness of the created being. And by this, you bring contentment to the Creator. 

Question (PT 19): (33:25) So he says, it's not clear, he says, if the state of darkness, that he can be happy, so his work is in purity. And if I don't feel happiness? 

M. Laitman: If you feel no gladness, it's as if you are rejecting that state. You're sliding it, disrespecting it, you don't want it. Joy is a kind of proof, it's a sign that you respect the situation. 

Student: Try and help me. You said we have to change our state towards the darkness. How do you do it? What do you mean to relate differently to the darkness? I don't feel good. 

M. Laitman: Well, if you don't feel good, that means nothing. So what if you don't feel good? It's actually, you should be happy that you're given this burdening of the heart, because on top of this burdening of the heart, you can overcome it and turn correctly to the Creator, direct yourself correctly to the Creator, because He's the one who's given you the burdening of the heart, so you already have contact with Him. And you see this contact, this connection, as darkness. Turn it into light, from the back to the face. It all depends on you. 

Student: That's exactly it. How do I make my darkness? I feel bad right now. How do I turn it? You say, change my attitude. What does it mean to change my attitude, like in a Ten? How do I do it? 

M. Laitman: Tell yourself, they have eyes and they do not see. That's it, because they are in reception, not in bestowal. Try to be a little more in bestowal and don't run away from that state, but rather turn it into light. Stay in it and turn it into light. 

Student: I remember you said that the Rabash didn't feel good, and he started jumping on one foot. How do you do it? What do I need to do? What do I actually do? How do I do it? I don't understand how I can invert my attitude towards the state. 

M. Laitman: Everything is written about it. There's only one thing. I think I should buy you a microphone, otherwise you'll never replace it. 

Student: It cost me 500 shekels, this microphone. 

M. Laitman: All right, so let's all chip in and buy you a new microphone.

Question (Hebrew 10): (36:31) Lately, the frequency of the ups and downs are very high. And you told a friend that everything depends on the preparation. How can you prepare yourself for descents? What's the right way for this new wave of the strong ascents and descents? How do we prepare ourselves for it, so we won't forget to take everything in happiness? 

M. Laitman: First of all, you receive the next day's article in advance, right? 

Student: Yes, from the afternoon it's sent.

M. Laitman: You get it at noon. Maybe it's even before I get it. Okay, so you are getting the article. You should read it together in the group. Prepare the group for the next day's article. Talk about it. Write down questions if there are any. And they should be as serious as possible, as deep as possible, and based on the article. The next day, when we study it, you can ask. If it's really a question from the group that you don't understand, I'll be happy to hear it. And in this way, we will scrutinize these articles, because in them, we should really feel how Baal HaSulam and Rabash detailed for us all the parts of our soul, and how we should work with each and every state. The Creator is before us, and it all joins together into one picture. First, we have to put together all kinds of pieces into one picture. Archaeologists collect broken pieces …  

Student: Mosaic.

M. Laitman: Yes, I know this word. So they collect these pieces out of, say, a broken vessel that they found in the ground that was there for maybe thousands of years. We too have been waiting for thousands of years for what is going to happen to us now. And we have to try to turn it into a complete vessel. And then we constantly see, this is correct, this is incorrect. We need this, or we don't need that. And in this way we assemble all those pieces into one vessel. This is really our work. And our vessel is the Ten. In it, we join afterwards all of humanity. So you have to prepare these things from the day before and be ready for the lesson. And then in the lesson, we will read the article and get into it and see all the corners in it. And it will, we will really get an explanation because of it and the feeling and everything will be complete. 

Reader: We will move on to the next part of the lesson. This is from a recorded lesson from July 18, 2006. The article is from the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, item 81.