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

Daily Morning Lesson: September 3, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson – Nov 14, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 58. Joy Is a “Reflection” of Good Deeds

Reader: Hello, we are reading from the book of Shamati, Article 58, Joy is a Reflection of Good Deeds. You can find the study material on our website and the Arvut system. When you click the study material button in the top menu, you can send your questions through the Arvut system, and selected questions will be asked during the lesson. Shamati 58, Joy is a Reflection of Good Deeds. 

M. Laitman: We are seeing a very unique phenomenon: People who come to spirituality, to the wisdom of Kabbalah to learn something about what has to do with the soul. At first, they are very inspired, excited. And then they go into some state where they don't know what is going on with them. They go into some sort of inner stoppage and that may take a long time; here, we have to understand this phenomenon: Why such a person who comes so excited having found this wisdom and such feelings and thoughts and questions about creation and answers about creation. Even though he might not understand all of it but, still, it's all in front of him. It's like he comes to the shore and the ocean is in front of him and he can't just drink the whole ocean at once. But it's already in front of him, he's already in contact with something – there's no more need to look for something, it's all there. Here, we see that our advancement in knowing the components of the revelation of the Creator don't awaken so much joy and excitement within us, why? Because it all depends on the intention: Are we really working on this to achieve a spiritual vessel—and that means bestowal. And if we were in some degree of bestowal we would surely be joyful in that vessel. But if we haven't yet reached that vessel of bestowal, then we're in all sorts of states where we want to escape, we just block ourselves, we feel like just moving away from this falling asleep. Because in spirituality the more we even just manage to hear what it is – not even know what it is – then it is repelling to us. It's bestowal, love of others, devotion, something that's opposite to our nature. So how do we nevertheless aim ourselves correctly towards the goal? And even though we don't want it, we acknowledge in a healthy manner, that we don't want it, that we can't do it, and what should we do in relation to that? That's a big discernment, that if we feel joy, then it has to be a result of good deeds. Let's read. 

Reading: (05:02) Baal HaSulam. Shamati 58. Joy Is a “Reflection” of Good Deeds

I heard on Sukkot, Inter 4

Joy is a “reflection” of good deeds. If the deeds are of Kedusha [holiness], hence joy appears. However, we must know that there is also a discernment of a Klipa [shell]. In order to know if it is Kedusha, the scrutiny is in the reason. In Kedusha, there is reason, and in the Sitra Achra [other side] there is no reason, since another god is sterile and does not bear fruit. Hence, when gladness comes to a person, he should delve in words of Torah in order to discover the mind of the Torah.

We must also know that gladness is discerned as upper illumination that appears by MAN, which is good deeds. The Creator judges one where one is. In other words, if one takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven for eternity, there is an immediate upper illumination on this, which is considered eternity, too.

Even if one evidently sees that he will soon fall from his degree, He still judges one where one is. It means that if a person has now made up his mind to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven for eternity, it is considered wholeness.

However, if he takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven and does not want that state to remain in him forever, this thing and this deed is not considered wholeness, and naturally, the upper light cannot come and rest on it. This is because it is whole and eternal, and is not about to change. With a person, however, even if he wants, the state one is in will not be forever. (Twice)

M. Laitman: I think we should read again. It says read even a hundred times until somehow the matter in general becomes evident.

Reader: (07:57) Shamati 58, Joy Is a Reflection of Good Deeds.

M. Laitman: Meaning, even the slightest, smallest state—if we have somewhat of contact with Godliness. If we want it to remain, if we are willing to remain in that state for eternity, it becomes true spirituality, and thus we advance.

Question (PT 19): (11:23) How many times should a person ask for the burden of the kingdom of heaven for eternity, so it will remain for eternity?

M. Laitman: All the time, non-stop, because whatever we receive, as we want to receive spirituality, it's only from above and always by first preceding the MAN, the deficiency for it. We have to make sure that we always have a deficiency towards the Creator, that we want to discover Him, to discover the spiritual state in order to bring Him contentment, and more than that we don't need; that is called, longing for eternity.

Question (Africa 1): (12:20) What is the issue of the Klipa that it speaks of here in the beginning of the article? 

M. Laitman: The Klipa, shell, is what attracts us not to bestow through the group to the Creator. We have a very simple path: Me, the group, the Creator, and the Creator is not outside the group, it appears within the group. It's me and the group and the extent to which I'm included in it, I assimilate in it—that's how I complete my entire path. A lot is written about it everywhere, in the Zohar, in other places. That's how we need to determine our state: Either it's me separately or it's us together. And together means that in that togetherness resides the upper force which designs my group and draws me into it, and as I'm included in that vessel, I am joyful. 

Student: Sometimes, when a state of joy is revealed in the group, you sort of want to open it up and go deeper inside of it. Is this a correct approach because it seems like we're making a flaw here somewhere?

M. Laitman: I'll tell you from my experience, I spent a long time and many times being in connection with the group and outside the connection with the group. And I would demand from Rabash, explanations for why it's happening. And he would always say one thing: Just keep going anything but leave. That's the most final, principle thing, that you don't let go of the path. You can't do something today – in a month, in two months you will see changes – but you, at least, maintain the external framework. That's the group, gathering of friends, it's the lessons, of course, whether it's conventions, meals, wherever you can. Physically, you have to do it because with respect to the physical state there's nothing to scrutinize and there's no discount. How much can you join your heart and your longing and your ability? That's a different thing, that's already a spiritual issue according to how much the Creator sets up these disturbances on your path trying to strengthen you, to teach you in different ways.

Student: If we have, let's say, we have a meeting in the Ten, let's say the meeting is 30 minutes long. And within this meeting a really joyous state is revealed and we want to try and extend the state so we push the meeting to go longer. We do this either for a selfish benefit or is there something spiritual to this?

M. Laitman: That's not important, don't try to start scrutinizing whether it's egoistic or not. Because, by that, you're measuring the connection and the joyfulness from connection in some intellectual way, it's not worthwhile. No, it's recommended to just continue as much as you can, on the one hand, and on the other hand, if you decide it, about half an hour then make it half an hour, okay, extend it half and five more minutes but no more than that. Because then it just becomes, you know, more than necessary, like over—not recommended. But the main thing is to be grateful that at the end of the gathering we should all be grateful to the Creator for bringing us to that connection and giving us the opportunity to connect. We are thankful to Him and we hope that we've come closer to Him and we truly hope that He will appear in our connection, that's it.

Question (ITA 3): (17:56) What is our assignment? To find the point of adhesion with the Creator? Each time we lose it, we have to try and locate it again? Is this what he means by eternity? 

M. Laitman: Yes, to always be seeking, and the Creator will, each time, tear our connection, disconnect and then we have to look for it again. Then, He disconnects and we look for it again, this is called, the in's and out's. And by many actions like that we, each time, correct a new broken record and that's how we advance, that's it. So, not let go but the other way around, it says, the Torah comes out of Zion. Zion refers to the word, Yetziah, exit; so, specifically from the exits, when we are thrown out of the spiritual sensation and we are then drawn back to it. Specifically from the Creator throwing us out, pushing us out and then we come back to Him. In that way, we correct the shattered records that come from the shattered vessel of Adam HaRishon – each one corrects what he has to correct. The faster he does that the faster he comes to the final correction as we read with regards to Baal Shem Tov. That he went through 400 ups and downs within minutes. We have to try to understand the necessity of being thrown out and then we come back and then being thrown out again and then we come back again, that's our work. After a few such actions, we come to a more scrutinized connection, something clearer in our thought and feeling, and we advance. As we advance further, there's greater disconnects because we've achieved some height and then we fall from it. The descents, each time, are greater than the ascents because the descents reveal to us the new vessels, the deficiencies. And the ascents are only in order to correct and determine the contact with spirituality, so the ascent is very short. And the descent is typically, could be long but we have to resist it. We have to resist the lengthiness of it and as quickly as possible, not bear the distance from the group and spirituality and work on it, intensively. In short, to always be working on attaining the connection between us and the Creator—that should be our constant direction. 

Question (Merkaz 1): (21:25)  No translation

M. Laitman: The more we receive reason, we find reason; then the next time we're going to have to go higher above reason, that's always the case. So when we go above reason, it's not that we don't acquire reason. On the contrary, we acquire the reason of Kedusha, of bestowal and that's how we advance. So, one who goes above reason becomes more sensitive, wiser, and he discovers more in a vessel called above reason. But he actually has more reason of Kedusha, he understands both corporeality and spirituality. And what he needs, he receives. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (22:48) We experience descents and ascents, as you explained. He writes here in the article that we raise MAN and as a result the Creator sentences us. But how here, in this height, to receive the second Malchut? 

M. Laitman: To, accept the Malchut of heaven for eternity, means that we want only that to manage us – only the connection between us and the Creator that should appear according to our expectation in our connection. That's what should be in front of us, when I look through the group at the Creator. Just like when you're shooting a rifle, you have your eye, you have the first aim and the second aim. Because one is not enough. You need to have three points: Your eye and then two aims. And then you can align yourself, that's how it turns out that I come closer to the friends. I want to unite with them and in the connection with them, I want to identify the Creator. This is called, Israel, the light and the Creator are one. The one who yearns is called, Israel, Yashar El, straight to the Creator. Ohrita, the Torah, is that mechanics, the Kli, the vessel, through which I advance, more, more accurately, it's the light that reforms. And the Kudshi Hu, blessed be He, refers to the Creator. And so in that exact way I'm in contact with Him.

Student: That's what we do each time, the cycle of work. He writes that sometimes it happens that we don't receive it for eternity. 

M. Laitman: As much as we can. Look, we can't measure whether it's for eternity or not, whether it's real or only how I feel it, that's, at least, for now. I want it to be like that and that's enough.

Student: It turns out that it's up to me? It's my decision that I want to have it for eternity?

M. Laitman: You only, it's up to you, only. It's all according to man's decision. 

Question (German 3): (25:51) In the beginning, you interfered in the workshop and you said that your friends were in the dead end. I can feel it, what is the test one should make in order to check that because I don't see any joy?

M. Laitman: First of all, you look at your state and you see that you don't have what you want. And so you're unhappy, you're dissatisfied with the Creator, with the group, with me, with wherever it is you've fallen into. Meaning, your egoistic attitude corrupts everything, and why do you feel it like that? Specifically for you to turn upside down. Try, and we talked about it before, try each and every moment to invert your thinking, not about yourself but about the Creator. That you're willing to do something for Him, for His benefit, to make Him happy. Try, in all kinds of states, in all kinds of actions you do. Try to make it so that you are doing it in order to bring Him contentment. Make these exercises. Start practicing it and you'll see how it pulls you out of that hole you're in now. You'll see that, by that, you begin to have some illumination, some joy, some direction, some high spirits, try it. I spoke about it a few months ago already. 

Question (Tel Aviv 4): (27:59) How is this joy expressed towards the friends? Does it come with a high spirit, a smile?

M. Laitman: You need to always approach the friends with good spirits and try to awaken them, even though you internally feel opposite to it. But towards the friends, you have to treat them like that, that's it, always awaken them. 

Question (Moscow 1): (28:41) If I understood correctly, the entrance and the exit is not permanent but the permanent work, we check like we check the illumination of a lamp, a light bulb.

M. Laitman: Right, right.

Question (MAK 6): (29:08) The article says that the moment joy comes, you have to learn the words of the Torah so the reason of Torah will be revealed? 

M. Laitman: The upper light is called Torah and for it to appear we need our own vessel for it that will be, also, in some form of bestowal. Then, according to the equivalence between the light and the Kli, the light called, Torah, will appear in the Kli, on our part, which is the will to receive with an inclination to bestow.

Student: If the light and the words of Torah are light, how do you learn that? 

M. Laitman: It says you have to write it on your heart, meaning you don't study it in your intellect. You learn it from how much you change your own qualities and that is how you learn in a practical way. Not intellectually, but in practice in your feeling, your relation towards the friends. 

Question (PT 35): (30:38) Is it correct to say that the more we annul relative to what we receive from the teacher, we can use the force of the teacher and the ten? 

M. Laitman: If you realize what the teacher tells you and our teacher, we should understand, it is Baal HaSulam and Rabash—I'm just a communicator. If we follow what they wrote to us, we then use their strength and we advance.

Question (PT 31): (31:25) We learn that everything will be clarified in the thought and in the article it says that the joy is revealed through MAN which is good deeds. What are the deeds and the question is: Why through deeds and not through thoughts? 

M. Laitman: Deeds meaning that we change our intentions from in order to receive to in order to bestow, that's called a good deed.  

Student: Typically, after successful acts, actions, deeds, we receive additional coarseness and loose thee degree. How does that sit with joy?

M. Laitman: In order for us to go forward, sure, to advance, and in order to get used to being joyful in all actions, ups and downs. 

Question (PT 33): (32:26) Is the joy coming immediately as a result of good deeds or does it come at other times? 

M. Laitman: When you manage to organize yourself to be in the correct attitude, both to ascents and descents because you receive everything from the Creator – None Else Besides Him – then you feel joy without any stop. We have to reach such joy where both the ascents and descents are joyful to us. Joyfulness is the vessel, it's the vessel because you justify the Creator. You aim to bestow to Him, you don't demand anything to yourself and that's, basically, expressed in this one word, joyfulness.

Student: Is there a way to know if this is joy from sanctity or from the Sitra Achra, the other side, how can you tell? 

M. Laitman: To the extent that you can be in that permanently, in the lessons with the friends, that's joy from Kedusha, joyfulness from good deeds, from actions of bestowal. 

Question (Unity 4): (33:57) What should be the preparation in the Ten in order to reach a common joy and an ascent? 

M. Laitman: Talk about it between you and discuss it and clarify it – it's all in front of you. Most importantly, I think, is to discuss the importance of the goal, the importance of our state. Every person that's with us is weighed against hundreds of millions of people. Think about it. 

Question (W Moscow 5): (34:51) What is the burden of the kingdom of heaven that a person undertakes? 

M. Laitman: The burden of the kingdom of heaven is our work, that we have to clarify what belongs to in order to receive and what belongs to in order to bestow, and sort it out: This is Klipa and this is Kedusha. And ask of the Creator, because we can't do it alone, to take upon ourselves the actions of bestowal of Kedusha. And that is possible, only, by always praying to the Creator and asking Him for these forces, for this strength. Because we have nothing that can be in Kedusha, so we turn to the Creator, we receive the strength of Kedusha; and accepting this process is called, accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven. 

Question (W KabU): (35:58) Why the kingdom of heaven is considered a burden?

M. Laitman: Because we are happy about it, it's not that we don't want it. We're happy that we're under this pressure and that it obligates us to advance spiritually. Because if we didn't have any pressure upon us through different events that happened to us. Then, according to our nature, we would never come closer to spirituality. So, it's actually very important to us to feel this burden of the kingdom of heaven. As we call it, as an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load. That, we want – it's still not there yet – but that's what happens afterwards, that we love the difficulty. Because according to the measure of the level of difficulty, we attain the Creator. According to the coarseness of the Kli, we reveal the upper force. 

Student: What does it mean that the Creator sentences a person where he is? What kind of sentence is that? Who's the judge? 

M. Laitman: The Creator is the judge, and He judges the person according to the general state the person is in, which we don't know. That has to do with who we are, what we are, what we went through. What exact point of shattering we come from in the soul of Adam HaRishon, and so on. These are calculations of the Creator, but most importantly is that we need to be inclined to connect to bestowal and connection between us. We have to understand that there's no games we can play with the Creator. All our games are only between us – that if we try to be connected to each other, by that we build the spiritual vessel because we do it above our ego. If we try to search for how do we come closer to the Creator in this vessel, then we somewhat establish this vessel, which has some connection. Because we're no longer just rejecting each other, we're also trying to connect to the Creator and position ourselves towards Him, and so on. 

Question (Moscow 5): (38:56) What are those acts of sanctity through which we can reveal joy?

M. Laitman: The actions are only connection between us, only connection between us. It is written “a desolate city cannot be ruined,” meaning, if there is a city that where the people in it are great huge criminals. But if they are connected between them – like you see in gangs – that they're all united because they have an important goal of robbing someone or stealing something. So, if they're connected, these robbers in the city, then you can't conquer that city, you can't  because there's a Creator over that city. But they're criminals? It doesn't matter that they're criminals. The force of connection they generate between them is more important than being criminals. Between themselves, they're not criminals, they're righteous. They want to justify each other, connect with each other, achieve love towards each other, because they know that otherwise they don't reach their goal, and their goal is to rob. But still it connects them, and then there's Kedusha among them because even though it's in order to receive in a crude manner. But they are somewhat compatible to the Creator through their connection.