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

Daily Morning Lesson: June 3, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Sep 20, 2021 Baal HaSulam. Shamati. Article 2. Shechina [Divinity] in Exile.

Reader: Hello, we are reading in the writings of Baal HaSulam, articles of Shamati. Shamati number 2, "Shechina [Divinity] in Exile". You can find the study materials in study materials button. You can ask questions and selected questions will be answered during the lesson.

Rav’s Introduction: Yes, we're continuing to read from the book of Shamati according to the order of the articles. Every day we will read an article, we will try to do it, and you later on, throughout the day should also try to go over the article that we read in the lesson, in our lesson, and in this way we will advance. However, we should all be focused only on the connection between us, only on a prayer to the Creator that He will make a connection between us, and this connection will form for us the feeling of one Kli [vessel], the vessel of Adam HaRishon in which the Creator is revealed.

Reading: (01:16) 2. Shechina [Divinity] in Exile

I heard in 1942

The Zohar says, “He is the Shochen [Dweller], and She is the Shechina [Divinity].” We should interpret its words: It is known that regarding the upper light, it is said that there is no change, as it is written, “I the Lord did not change.” All the names and appellations relate only to the Kelim [vessels], which is the will to receive included in Malchut—the root of creation. From there it hangs down to this world, to the created beings. 

M. Laitman: This means the upper light creates the four phases of direct light, the fifth phase is Malchut and from Malchut the whole matter of creation starts to develop, it is called Bar [outside], the upper light and there is the root for the created beings. And from the Malchut of Ein Sof that the upper light created, the Partzufim and Sefirot and the worlds (Olamot) begin, and eventually, we emerge at the end of the development. And our work is from the end of the development on the way back to climb all the way to Malchut of Ein Sof. Once we get there, we accumulate all of our desires, all of creation, all of the light we accumulated all within us and we return to the Malchut of Ein Sof in complete form where we, as well as the upper light are as one.

Continue Reading: (03:04) 2. Shechina [Divinity] in Exile

All those discernments, beginning with Malchut, the root of the creation of the worlds, through the creatures, are named Shechina. The overall correction is for the upper light to shine in them in utter completeness.

The light that shines in the Kelim is named Shochen, and the Kelim are generally named Shechina. In other words, the light dwells inside the Shechina. This means that the light is called Shochen because it dwells within the Kelim, that is, the Kelim in general are called Shechina.

Before the light shines in them in utter completeness, we name that time, “a time of corrections.” This means that we make corrections so that the light will shine in them in completeness. Until then, that state is called “Shechina in Exile.”

This means that there is still no wholeness in the upper worlds. Below, in this world, there should be a state where the upper light is within the will to receive. This correction is deemed receiving in order to bestow.

Meanwhile, the will to receive is filled with ignoble and foolish things that do not make a place where the glory of heaven can be revealed. This means that where the heart should be a tabernacle for the light of the Creator, the heart becomes a place of waste and filth. In other words, ignobility captures the whole of the heart.

This is called “Shechina in the dust.” It means that she is lowered to the ground, and each and every one loathes matters of Kedusha [holiness], and there is no desire whatsoever to raise her from the dust. Instead, they choose ignoble things, and this causes the sorrow of the Shechina by not giving her a place in the heart that will become a tabernacle for the light of the Creator. 

M. Laitman: That’s it. All in all, it is a short article but it contains many discernments. If there are no questions, we will continue with our lesson. It's worthwhile to read it a few times because there are very precise definitions here, very exciting ones.

Question (Kyiv 1): (06:17) He writes here that the roots of the creation of the worlds are the Shechina, but we said that our connection in the Ten can also be the Shechina?

M. Laitman: All the vessels that can receive the revelation of the Creator within them according to the law of equivalence of form are called Shechina, and the Creator relative to them and that part that can dress in them and fill them is called Shochen, the dweller.

Student: Are there degrees in Shechina?

M. Laitman: Yes, certainly all of the vessels. Well, there was one vessel, one desire that the Creator created and He filled it. Besides creating this desire He also filled this desire with light, with His presence, until through the four phases of direct light this desire reached the feeling and understanding of Who is feeling it, and Whom does it feel, and then this desire exploded. All of the different parts started to feel that within each one of them has a different desire with respect to the Creator. There is no glue between them, this is what they discovered. That in each and every desire it is like, let's say, with a pomegranate there are many grains, there's no connection between them. Each one of them has a connection with the Creator but no connection between them. When this was revealed, it felt they were distancing from each other, they can no longer feel one another as one light. Because when the light created them, they feel themselves as one, but once they finished growing and developing, then in that they started to feel themselves as separate, and the separation is called the breaking of the vessel. Now the question is, how they can once again connect and return in order to be congruent with that one light that created them? This is all the work, this is what we need to do, even though we discover how much the desire and each one of us is different than the others.  So, we do not connect by being able to change our desires but rather that we can connect in the Creator. That we are all aimed towards Him and we want to connect to Him, and then with the disposition to connect to Him we also can connect. That is, we connect above our desires. The desires do not change, they are different, however our intention to bestow to the Creator, this is what connects us into one. Then it turns out that by that we build ourselves as some kind of a new reality. What was there before is that the Creator created a desire, and later on this desire felt itself that it incorporates many different desires, and this is called Adam HaRishon prior to the sin, and later on it became separated, that is called the sin. Even though it's not at the account of the created being, the Creator had prepared that in advance, on purpose. Then begins man's work, that it is those desires, to get to know how much they are in a lowly state far away from the Creator, far away from each other, and in this way they gradually find the way of correction and what to do. First of all, they think about the fact that they feel bad, and then they start thinking that they feel bad because they are far away from the source of the light, of their fulfillment, of the good. Then they start to detect that it's not that they actually need to reach fulfillment and good but rather they need to resemble those qualities that exist in the upper force in the Creator. And so they need to work not on the desire but rather on the intention. And this is already called “to reach a form of bestowal above the will to receive”, which is called “faith above reason”. In this way they start to see, out of the recognition of the system, what is it that they need to do. It's very similar to little children, that are out of the fact that they get to know the world, they gradually learn from the world what they need to do. Even if we wouldn't show them what to do, how to build something out of the building blocks, how to make something out of the sand, they themselves can also learn that just like we developed naturally through the degrees of still, vegetative, animate and speaking, and in each and everything you have the four phases, four degrees of development. And thus, we need to reach a state that what we need to do is work on the intention. The desires remain individual in each and every one, we cannot change them, the shattering remains a shattering. However, above the shattering, we bind them all together, seemingly, in a single bundle, all of them in a single bag and we end up on the one hand with big, broken, cunning desires, very egoistic; and on the other hand, they all want with their intention, with their disposition above the desires to be together, nevertheless. And this is the vessel. And the intensity, the power of the vessel is measured according to the Aviut [the coarseness] in those great egoistic desires and according to the connection between them, according to the Masach [the screen] between them, that binds them all together with a single intention to bestow to the one Creator, the one source. This is actually what we have to attain, to feel, and in this way, we will advance.

Question (ITA 4): (14:01) Why is the final stage, called Malchut, called outside of the Creator?

M. Laitman: Because they're the created being which starts from zero, from the Shoresh [the root] and later on, it develops through Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Dalet - phases 1, 2, 3, 4, and in the fourth phase it feels itself that, even though it came from the root, however it is the opposite of the root. It has its own desire, and if in root phase, in phase 1, it started from the will to bestow, when it reaches phase 4, it's already the opposite - it is the will to receive. And when it feels inside of its individual system of 5 phases that it is the opposite of the Creator, this brings it to the feeling of shame. And that feeling of shame brings it to restrict itself and to start actions of congruence between it and the Creator, it is all through shame. Shame is the greatest force that the created being feels towards the Creator. Like the guest and the host.

Question (Latin 7): (15:34) In our work in connection are we depicting the vessel while we are building the screen?

M. Laitman: The screen is actually the vessel. The screen actually indicates to us the measure of the vessel, the greatness of the vessel, the depth of the vessel. The vessel is the screen or the screen is a vessel, because following the restriction and the condition that we can connect to the Creator only in the intention to bestow, then we have before us to get to know the evil, and that evil should be in such a state that we don't agree to suffer it, to stand it, that gap between us and the Creator. We have to skip over it, bridge over it to connect to the Creator. Then we use that evil, that bad, that feeling of separation between us and the Creator as a means to demand the correction. How can we know that? We check it through the relations between us. As much as I am separated from the friend, to that extent, I am separated from the Creator. It is one-to-one. Even though now we are still confused, and it seems to us that we are closer to one another, and we don't feel such a distance in between us, but it is a lie. The distancing between us, the internal, spiritual distancing is the same distancing as each one of us has to the Creator. Thus, we therefore, can thoroughly study of how to connect and get closer between us, we can learn how to connect and get closer to the Creator. There are many things to it, but this is how it is. We need to understand where here, is the place of the shattering? And how do I not deceive myself with respect to the friends, and how do I see deeper into creation? Where is the gap between me and the friend, and between me and the Creator? And how do I, nevertheless, identify the internality of the friend in whom the Creator is, and so on? That is - the Creator is in the heart of the friend.

Student: Can you depict that here we can implement, “Don't believe in yourself until the day of your death”, which we say about the Shechina?

M. Laitman: Yes, this process continues until Ein Sof, endlessly. But in each and every state, it is divided into parts of Ten Sefirot, that we need to rise from Malchut to Keter, and once again, from Malchut to Keter, and in this way we come closer through 125 such degrees until the state of Ein Sof. But each time, as I rise through such Ten Sefirot to a certain measure, I go through the entire path. However, how much am I able to discern, to distinguish as I rise through those Ten Sefirot the entire path, well, on a very small scale, how much I can identify things there, but the more we rise higher and higher, those Ten Sefirot through which we rise each time, they will explain to us more and more about the entire development.

Question (PT 31): (20:23) According to what you said, the shame is a very powerful force. As a Ten we only sometimes feel a little bit of shame, how do we develop shame in the Ten so it really burns our bones?

M. Laitman: Only through the relations between the friends. Only through the relations between the friends, and here we have something and its opposite. The greater the soul is, it has greater coarseness and it feels less. It is less sensitive, because the coarseness doesn’t allow it to feel all these discernments that we go through, so here we have something and its opposite. That is people who advance well and quickly and they grasp the study and everything is good and well for them, they actually have more refined souls and they grasp everything well, however it is more difficult for them to later on penetrate the depth. While those who don't grasp so quickly the emotional issues, because their emotion is inside of great coarseness, so it turns out that it is difficult for them to understand what it is all about. Where there is the emotion here? Where is the work inside of our connections and coming closer? Where precisely should I come closer with my heart to the heart of the other? But those people specifically, if they don't let go and leave, and they keep going forward, they eventually, actually, discover very high degrees. This is according to the rule that one who is greater than his friend - his inclination is greater. So his inclination is tough heart, and it's harder for him to go forward, but if he does not leave then he ends up climbing a higher mountain.

Student: So shame is the result of the effort in relation to the friends?

M. Laitman: Shame is the result of the relation between Malchut and Keter on that degree. The very first shame that brought about the first restriction in Malchut of Ein Sof is that Malchut felt in its inner development the root phase and the gap between Malchut feeling of itself in phase four within phase four, and the root phase within phase four. That feeling is called shame, and this is what pushed Malchut to say that I'm better off dead. It's better if I would simply remove myself completely from my existence, I cannot tolerate how much I am in oppositeness to the Emanator. And this was the reason for the restriction, and this was the reason for all of the corrections. When I asked Rabash how that happened, he said that this is something that we attain. It is not a problem, you will attain it, but you should know that shame is creation on its own. These were his words that shame is a separate creation, that the Creator deliberately created the feeling of shame. This is the feeling of the gap between Malchut and Keter, between the created being and the Creator, so that the created being will feel how different it is from the Creator. You might say, different according to the degrees of coarseness, according to all kinds of things, but in the depth of this gap that I and Him are indifferent, and in this difference, I feel lowliness, humility, oppositeness; I feel such a state in me that I am better off dead. That I cannot agree with it, I cannot exist in such a form. That is the feeling of shame.

Question (Baltia 1): (25:21) You're saying higher or coarser, heavier souls feel more degrees?

M. Laitman: That's obvious, yes. If a person has preparation in terms of his coarseness in the vessel of Adam HaRishon, a greater coarseness, so he fell deeper relative to other hearts. So, he has a difficulty to rise to the correction. But once he corrects himself, by that he gets, in terms of his understanding of his work, it is greater than others, and this is until the end of correction. At the end of correction, it becomes all one integral, all in all, we all connect, we complete and complement each other, then no gap remains between the different souls. It all becomes one soul. But until then, one who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater.

Student: The quantity of degrees does not change?

M. Laitman: Each one falls and rises according to the magnitude of his desire.

Student: In other words, it becomes heavier in the work, right?

M. Laitman: Let's say, also.

Question (Tel Aviv 4): (27:01) Is Shechina something that is revealed only in the upper souls and not in this world?

M. Laitman: In this world, when we feel only this world, nothing is revealed. Only a little bit of understanding and a feeling that it comes to us, but a little from the surrounding light, and that's it. Whereas, when we start to feel through the connection between us the upper degrees, the upper world, the Emanator when He shines a little bit, that's something different already.

Student: He says what does it mean that the Shechina is the general soul of Israel?

M. Laitman: It is the upper light that fills the corrected vessels. That’s it.

Question (PT 32): (28:10) Is it correct to say that the intention begins with shame?

M. Laitman: Let’s say, to some extent, I'm not sure we can say that about all of the degrees. Nevertheless, there has to be a shame there to some extent. Shame is felt already on the higher degrees.

Question (Hebrew 10): (28:46) How do we help each other soften the heart?

M. Laitman: Well, Rabash writes about it everywhere, I have nothing else to tell you, try to bestow to one another, to give examples, to have a common prayer, be a bit more involved with one another in the emotions.

Student: That's what I'm asking, we do it in the Ten, and then we discover how great the distance is between us, and it doesn't let us.

M. Laitman: When we discover there's a great distance, that's also good. It pushes us to work.