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

Daily Lesson June 22, 2025.

Part 1: Recorded lesson - October 08, 2021. Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 15. What Is Other Gods in the Work?

Reader: Dear friends and the first part of the lesson we will learn from an article from a lesson from October 8th, 2021, Shamati, number 15, “What Is Other Gods in the Work”?

Reader: We are in the Shamati article number 15, “What Is Other Gods in the Work”? You can find study materials on our site as well as in the Arvut system. You can ask questions to our site. Pertinent questions to the study material will be aired during the lesson. 

M. Laitman: This is also a special article, really like all the Shamati articles. It explains to us how much we can measure ourselves, to somehow denote to ourselves, what is the state we are in, in our work. And by what we can weigh how much we’re making efforts, how much we’re advancing and how much we are not. Because the Creator, there’s a reason why He says, I created the evil inclination. His intention is not that we remain in the evil inclination but rather that through the evil inclination that resists our work, we will get a feeling, an understanding of where we are with respect to Him, in order to reach Him, to identify with Him, to reach His place, His degree. And therefore, how can we weigh it, how can we measure it? How can we measure our advancement each time, are we advancing more, or is there a regression? So, this article explains that to us, so please. We will talk about it later on. 

Reading: (02:22) Shamati 15, What Is Other Gods in the Work?

It is written, “You shall make no other gods over Me.”

M. Laitman: That is, on one hand there is a possibility to do that. That there is something that is opposite the Creator, and opposite to the Creator is only the evil inclination, our ego that is hindering us in all of the different cases. So “you should make no other gods over me”, means that there is the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love coming up above one’s ego, the person’s ego, and there is the opposite state. There is no more than two states: either you belong to the Creator or you belong to the opposite thing, to our will to receive.

Reader continues: (03:14) The holy Zohar interprets that there should be stones to weigh with.

M. Laitman: Even, stone, comes from Havana, understandings, so how with understanding, with attainment, with the feeling - at first, we feel and later on we can give our feeling all kinds of degrees. So how can we weigh it?

Reader continues: (03:46) He asks about it, How is the work weighed with stones, by which one knows one’s state in the ways of the Creator? It replies that it is known that when one begins to work more than one is used to, the body begins to kick and object to this work with all its might, since regarding bestowal, it is a load and a burden for the body. It cannot tolerate this work, and the resistance of the body appears in a person in the form of foreign thoughts. It comes and asks the questions of “who” and “what.” Through these questions, a person says that all these questions are certainly sent to him by the Sitra Achra [other side] to obstruct him in the work.

M. Laitman: That is a person thinks that indeed he has two forces before him. And if with one force if he wants somehow wants to advance, to reach Lishma, for her sake, to reach in order to bestow, to reach connection with others - well he doesn’t quite want  that, but he sees that he has to do it, because by this he will advance toward the purpose of creation. However, for him to have another force that obstructs him from advancing in this way, that he wasn’t thinking. When he discovers that there is a force that truly stops him, blocks him, pulls him backward, then what happens?

Reader continues: (05:40) It says that if, at that time, one says that they come from the Sitra Achra, one breaches what is written, “You shall make no other gods over Me.”

M. Laitman: That is, that we must not say that the forces that are obstructing us from reaching Lishma, in order to bestow, connection, something spiritual, that these forces come not from the side of the Creator. But rather they also, these forces come from the side of the Creator. They come in order to obstruct us, however this is called help made against him. This is what Kabbalists call our will to receive, the evil inclination. Even though it appears to us as opposite, however it actually gives us discernments, degrees,  and understanding, how to advance correctly. That is even though it is opposite, however, it is also help, and this is something that we have to understand. 

Reader continues: (06:58) The reason is that one should believe that it comes to him from the Shechina [Divinity], since “There is none else besides Him.” However, the Shechina shows one his true state, how he is walking in the ways of the Creator.

This means that by sending him these questions, called “foreign thoughts,” meaning that through these foreign thoughts she sees how he answers the questions regarded as “foreign thoughts.” And all this, one should know one’s true state in the work so as to know what to do. 

M. Laitman: That is, these things come to the person specifically in order to aim him more correctly in a way that he's more directed to the purpose of creation. Even though it seems to the person as though it is hindering him, stopping him, confusing him, he grows weaker, and he doesn’t see in that the help from above but rather, it’s actually an obstruction.

Reader continues: (08:20) It is like an allegory about a friend who wanted to know how much his friend loved him. Certainly, when face to face, his friend hides himself because of shame. Therefore, he sends a person to speak badly about his friend. Then he sees his friend’s reaction while he is away from his friend, and then one can know the true measure of his friend’s love.

The lesson is that when the Shechina shows her face to a person, meaning when the Creator gives one vitality and joy, in that state, one is ashamed to say what he thinks about the work of bestowal without receiving anything for himself. However, when not facing her, meaning when the vitality and gladness cool down, which is considered not facing her, then one can see his true state regarding the aim to bestow.

If one believes that it is written that there is none else besides Him, and that the Creator sends all the foreign thoughts, meaning that He is the operator, he certainly knows what to do and how to answer all the questions. This seems as though she sends him messengers to see how he slanders it, his kingdom of heaven, and this is how we can interpret the above matter.

One can understand this, that everything comes from the Creator, for it is known that the beatings that the body beats a person with its foreign thoughts, since they do not come to a person when he does not engage in the work, but these beatings that come to a person in a complete sensation, to the point that these thoughts smash his mind, they come specifically after preceding Torah and work more than the usual. This is called stones to weigh with.

It means that these stones fall in one’s mind when one wants to understand these questions. Afterward, one comes to weigh the purpose of one’s work, if it is truly worthwhile to work in order to bestow, to work with all his might and soul, and that all his aspirations will be only to hope that what there is to acquire in this world is only in the purpose of his work to bring contentment to his Maker, and not in any corporeal matter.

M. Laitman: This is how he should weigh it. What he feels, what he receives, and what he is sent each time in his mind and in his heart, new emotions and thoughts. 

Reader continues: (12:12) At that time begins a bitter argument, since one sees that there are arguments both ways.

M. Laitman: It is as if one time he’s pulled ahead, another time he's pushed back. 

Reader continues: (12:26)The writings warn about this, “You shall make no other gods over Me.”

M. Laitman: That as if there is another force other than the Creator who is doing the opposite work.

Reader continues: (12:38) Do not say that another god gave you the stones with which to weigh your work, but “over Me.”

Instead, one should know that this is considered “over Me.” This is so that one will see the true form of the basis and the foundation upon which the structure of the work is built.

M. Laitman: Yes, that only in that he sees how much he has within him for and against,  forces and thoughts that are for the advancement, against his advancement, and how does he arrange himself in being between the two of them. Then he can see his true state and he can measure how much he is drawn to in order to bestow, to the purpose of creation.

Reader continues: (13:49) The heaviness in the work is primarily because they are two texts that deny one another. On one hand, one should try that all his work will be to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, that all his desire will be only to bestow contentment upon his Maker, and not at all for himself.

M. Laitman: That’s on the one hand. He has to see that actually this is how he should be directed, to that extent, towards adhesion according to the equivalence of his relations with the Creator. And two… 

Reader continues: (14:32) On the other hand, we see that this is not the primary goal, since the purpose of creation was not for the creatures to bestow upon the Creator, since He has no need for the creatures to give Him something. On the contrary, the purpose of creation was due to His desire to do good to His creations, meaning for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure from Him.

These two matters contradict one another from one end to the other, for on one hand, one should bestow, and on the other hand, one should receive. In other words, there is the matter of correction of creation, being to achieve Dvekut, discerned as equivalence of form, being that all his actions will be only to bestow. Afterward, it is possible to achieve the purpose of creation—to receive delight and pleasure from the Creator.

Hence, when one has accustomed oneself to walk in ways of bestowal, one has no vessels of reception anyhow. When one walks in ways of reception, he has no vessels of bestowal.

Thus, through the “stones to weigh with” one acquires both, since after the negotiation he had during the work, when he overcomes and takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven in the form of bestowal in mind and heart, it causes that when he comes to draw the upper abundance, since he already has a solid basis that everything should be in the form of bestowal, hence, even when one receives some illumination, he receives it in order to bestow. This is because the whole basis of his work is built solely on bestowal. This is considered that he “receives in order to bestow.”

M. Laitman: This article isn’t simple, there’s a lot of material here. Let us try to scrutinize it a little bit, as much as we can.

Question (Moscow 7): (17:57) Usually, throughout the day, I’m with thoughts that distance me from the Creator and the friends. It seems to me like these are foreign thoughts, but it’s written here that those foreign thoughts that pressure a person, come to a person only in a state in which he’s working the Creator's work. So what’s the difference between those foreign thoughts that he’s talking about here, Baal HaSulam, and those things that I consider as foreign thoughts?

M. Laitman: A foreign thought is considered foreign because it wants to pull the person into the line that he’s following in his life. If now I am thinking business and suddenly, I get thoughts about some fun time, then the thoughts about the fun time are foreign thoughts with respect to the business, that is clear. It’s the same here. If I’m doing spiritual work, as much as I am doing spiritual work, and I feel that now thoughts come to me that do not support the spiritual path, the spiritual advancement, then I accept them as foreign thoughts. However here, he talks not about the fact that foreign thoughts come, of course they come, but rather what do they come for? How can we use them in order to invert, transform these foreign thoughts, specifically to ones that are correct and good for advancement? Because the Creator doesn’t create anything redundant in the whole of creation, but rather everything depends on how we use it.

Student: I also wrote in the end, he writes that the danger is the abundance that we receive from the Creator. What’s that?

M. Laitman: Summary?

Student: The risk of doing anything that we can do and receive for ourselves.

M. Laitman: Our whole development is in order to reach complete adhesion with the Creator. The complete adhesion, it’s not that we disappear inside of the Creator, but rather that in receiving in order to bestow, everything that He bestows, we are capable of receiving it in order to bestow back to Him. That we receive only in order to bestow to Him, and by that we identify with Him in our intention, in our inclination, in our thoughts, that as much as He wants to bestow to us, so we want to bestow to Him. This is actually the summary of our work. To that extent, what do we do? We reach a state where we exist in it like the Creator. His whole pleasure is from bestowing to us and all of our pleasure is from bestowing to Him. Then, we exist in the same state as Him, which is the greatest state, the most important, the most sublime. 

Question (ITA 4): (21:55) What does it mean that all the contradicting thoughts, all the matters that come to us in the work are the actual foundation for the work? What does it also mean that there’s a situation in which one he receives and a state where he gives? What are those states in a person in the work? 

M. Laitman: Don't mix two questions together. If you have two questions, then ask just one question. So, again, repeat one question.

Student: Why are the thoughts and forces that are contradicted to the work that are revealed in a person, why are they the basis to the work?

M. Laitman: Because through them, when we have one thought and opposite it, we have the same thought but in the opposite manner, one kind of work and opposite it  something that hinders it, then we can weigh how much we’re advancing. Because we cannot measure anything unless we have something that is opposite to it. The created beings exist in a state where they have to always incorporate two opposite forces and  they exist in between these two opposite forces, this is how they feel their life, this is how they feel their advancement. In which direction they can build a thought, a desire to establish themselves? Only at the time when they exist in between two forces, two opposite phenomena. Try to think about it, try to see this in our life. If we didn't have any resistance, if we don’t have resistance in something, we don’t feel it. A single phenomenon, a single force, we cannot feel it. We can feel it only when there is something opposite to it. As much as there is, in between these two forces, relations of for and against, then we feel in between this and that. If I exist only in darkness or only in light, I cannot detect anything, but only when there is a contrast, differences between darkness and light, then I can distinguish between them and out of that, I can perceive a certain form. This is how it is with all of our other senses, the corporeal ones and also in the spiritual ones. This is nature, this is how we are built. Where does it stem from? It stems from our soul, that we have five senses in our soul: root, 1, 2, 3, 4. Then, we have sight, hearing, smelling, taste and touch - five also, and we live in them. We feel in them - for and against, good or bad, black and white, bitter and sweet. This is how we exist, in between them. If you will take away all of these differences so that we will not have such differences in us, in each and every sense, between the plus and the minus, let's say, then we lose our sensation and we cannot feel where we are. Do we even exist?

Student: There’s a part in the person that receives and a part that gives, is that correct?

M. Laitman: No. We don’t have a part that gives. We give, we can give with our hands. But the desire to give, we don’t have that. The desire to give in general, is only the Creator. The desire to receive only, is the created being. However, the created being undergoes a correction so that, above the will to receive, he can compose an intention, so that he uses the will to receive for the benefit of others, for the benefit of the Creator. This is what we are talking about all in all. All our corrections are in thought. For what purpose am I receiving? And this is what I call to bestow.

Question (Holland 1): (27:13) What is it that weighs these so-called stones?

M. Laitman: Well in truth, what weighs the stones is the middle line. We will reach this soon. Following the text, we will understand where it comes from. Wait.

Question (ITA 2): (27:56) Will the time come when the work trying to be in the Ten will be easier or the more we advance it will be in a steeper ascent?

M. Laitman: It will be more difficult, however, we will be able to do it. Our will to receive will be greater, but we will be able to cope with it, and to add to it an intention of in order to bestow. But certainly the advancement is advancement with a greater will to receive, and accordingly the intentions will be greater, in order to bestow. But we will have the forces for it. The most important thing is to feel what does it mean in order to bestow, what does it mean Lishma, for her sake, what does it mean faith above reason? This already relates to a single quality, that the importance of bestowal for me is greater than the importance of reception.

Question (Latin 2): (29:18) Why in the work does a person have different foreign thoughts? Is it necessary to have such thoughts and to feel blame that in the middle of the lesson such thoughts will rise?

M. Laitman: Whatever the person receives physically, emotionally, with his thoughts, with his desires, in everything that one has, it all comes from a single root and it is only in order to aim the person more correctly to the goal. That’s it. There is nothing that is outside of that, in each and every person. Eventually everyone will see that always there is one upper force that is pressuring the person and arranging the person in such that he will reach the goal. Only that.

Question (Belarus): (30:35) How can we invert these foreign thoughts so that they won’t…? 

M. Laitman: We do not need to change or invert any thoughts or any desires but rather only to strengthen whatever we have towards the one true goal, to be closer to the Creator. Closer, means to be more similar to Him, this is all. There is nothing besides  that do we need to do, and it’s impossible for us.

Question (Kyiv 1): (31:20) According to the text he writes that we have two stages - the first is come to adhesion, equivalence of form, and the second is to reach the purpose of creation, meaning to receive the upper abundance. What are those?

M. Laitman: If we reach in order to bestow, to that extent we can feel the pleasure we have in our connection, our relation with the Creator. There is work in coming closer and as a result of that there is work in enjoying, because to enjoy is also in order to bestow. First we have to acquire the quality of Bina, to bestow in order to bestow, when we prepare our vessels, and later on we reach a state of receiving in order to bestow. To bestow in order to bestow means that we elevate ourselves to the degree of Bina. To receive in order to bestow means that we elevate ourselves from the degree of Bina to the degree of Keter.

Student: So what is the thing that we’re receiving?

M. Laitman:  On the degree of Bina we are filled with the light of Hassadim, and on the degree of Keter we are filled with the light of Hochma. The first one is called VAK, the second is called GAR. The light of Hassadim and light of Hochma, Katnut, infancy, and Gadlut, adulthood or greatness. All in all this is the way to reach… the purpose of creation is divided into two parts. Soon we will go over the Introduction, the Preface to the Study of the Ten Sefirot once again. There we will study these two parts along the way to the goal.

Student: I’m usually in one thought only - either for the Creator or against, in a descent or an ascent. And here it’s written in the article that we need to build one against the other. How to hold onto that one towards the other together?

M. Laitman: This means to be on the middle line. That I see this with my eyes, and I see that with my eyes, and I want to combine the two of them together. This is what we need to do.

Student: But usually I am in either one or the other.

M. Laitman: That’s not enough, it’s not good. In the beginning this is how it is, a person is thrown this way or that way. It’s not that he himself positions himself in some state, but rather, this is how it is arranged for him from above. But our work, the more independent it will be, is that we will be in the middle. And that we will combine the two of them together. We will talk about it. It’s on the way.

Question (Merkaz 1): (35:07) If the thoughts and feelings that the person gets are sent from the Creator, where is the choice of a person?

M. Laitman: The choice of the person is not in the thoughts that the Creator sends him but rather in how he relates to what the Creator sends him. For him to accept with understanding, with love, with joy, that the Creator in each and every moment is tending to him. And indeed, each and every one at any given moment can discover how much he is constantly receiving guidelines from the Creator. Truly, it can be that within one second, thousands of discernments will pass through him. We don’t understand how much spirituality is working on such high frequencies. The person will be capable of replying to each and every one and then he will see how much he is rising above time. It will come.

Question (Baltia 3): (36:26) Can we say that we are building an attraction towards Him?

M. Laitman: It is not quite like that but for the time you can think of it like that. It says that the left rejects and the right attracts, brings closer. But it is the combination between the two of them that is very special.

Question (PT 24): (37:00) When do we go above reason and when do we use our understanding? 

M. Laitman: Even above reason we go with understanding. This is why it’s called above reason, it’s not without reason, it’s only above reason. The reason helps me to go above the corporeal reason and in that way to build a spiritual reason.

Question (PT 23): (37:44) He writes that the foreign thoughts come specifically after the precedence of the work in Torah above the ordinary. What is this work above the ordinary?

M. Laitman: We are used to a certain level where we study and relate to what passes through us, and we object to anything else that comes in the form of burdening, that feels heavy to us. If a person nevertheless is willing to accept additions, in scrutiny, in the study, in his connection with the friends, upon all the disturbances, and all kinds of such things, if a person is ready to receive additions…