The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: July 7, 2025
Part 1: Recorded lesson – Oct 16, 2021. Baal HaSulam, Shamati #20. Lishma [for Her sake]
Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson we’ll learn from the lesson from Oct 16, 2021, from Baal Ha Sulam, “Shamati”, Article 20, Lishma.
Reader: Hello, we are learning from the writings of Baal HaSulam, Article Number 20 from “Shamati”, “Lishma” [for Her sake]. You can ask questions on our website; selected questions will be answered in the lesson. “Shamati,” Article 20, “Lishma”.
Rav’s Introduction: We measure everything regarding the person himself, with respect to the person who attains. So, it is impossible to say relative to the person in this world, in respect to an ordinary person where he is, because one doesn’t have the scale by which he could say where he is. But when we reach the wisdom of Kabbalah, we start to see somehow, we start to measure if we are in or the receive or in order to bestow. That is, are we in Lo Lishma, which is a very important discernment, that I check myself and I see that I am in order to receive only for myself and so on. Or I am yearning for the state of Lishma to in order to bestow to the friends, to the Creator. Or maybe I already reached that, and I'm truly in the state of Lishma. Where person is, he, himself, needs to discover and determine it, this is why all our discernments are in respect to the person. And there is no other goal for one who is in this world for people instead everybody has to reach Lishma, as it says that, they should know me from the least to the greatest, and my house will be the house of prayer for all nations. The goal is clear, to reach such a level of adhesion with the Creator, and this is how we achieve the final state. In the meantime, we do not know what there is beyond, there are some hints in the wisdom of Kabbalah that the development does not end in it, yet. However, in the meantime to achieve Lishma is the goal that ahead of us. Let's read about it, let’s read this article again, number 20 from the “Shamati”, the matter of Lishma.
Reader: We will start from the beginning of this article again, Lishma, article 20.
Reading: (03:37) Baal HaSulam, Shamati #20. Lishma [for Her sake]
Concerning Lishma [for Her sake]. In order for a person to obtain Lishma, one needs an awakening from above, as it is an illumination from above and it is not for the human mind to understand. Rather, he who tastes, knows. It is said about this, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Because of this, upon assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven, one needs it to be in utter completeness, meaning only to bestow and not at all to receive. If a person sees that the organs do not agree with this view, he has no other choice but prayer—to pour out his heart to the Creator to help him make his body consent to enslaving itself to the Creator.
Do not say that if Lishma [for Her sake] is a gift from above, what good is one’s overcoming and efforts, and all the remedies and corrections that he does in order to achieve Lishma, if it depends on the Creator? Our sages said about it, “You are not free to rid yourself of it.” Rather, one must give the awakening from below, and this is considered “prayer.” Yet, there cannot be a real prayer if he does not know first that without prayer it cannot be obtained.
Therefore, the acts and remedies he does in order to obtain Lishma create the corrected Kelim [vessels] in him that want to receive the Lishma. Then, after all the actions and the remedies he can pray in earnest since he saw that all his actions did not help him whatsoever. Only then can he make an honest prayer from the bottom of his heart, and then the Creator hears his prayer and gives him the gift of Lishma.
We should also know that by obtaining Lishma, one puts the evil inclination to death. The evil inclination is called “receiving for one’s own benefit.” By obtaining the aim to bestow, one cancels the self-benefit. Putting to death means that one no longer uses one’s vessels of reception for oneself. And since it is no longer active, it is considered dead.
If one considers what one receives for his work under the sun, he will find that it is not so difficult to submit himself to the Creator, for two reasons:
One must strain oneself in this world in any case, whether one wants to or not.
During the work, too, if one works Lishma, he receives pleasure from the work itself.
It is as the Sayer from Dubna said about the verse, “You did not call Me, Jacob, for you labored about Me, Israel.” It means that he who works for the Creator has no labor. On the contrary, one has pleasure and elation.
But he who does not work for the Creator, but for other goals, cannot complain to the Creator that He is not giving him vitality in the work, since he is working for another goal. One can complain only to the one for whom he works, to give vitality and pleasure during his work. It is said about him: “They who make them shall be like them, everyone who trusts them.”
Do not be surprised that when one assumes the burden of the kingdom of heaven, when he wants to work in order to bestow upon the Creator, he still feels no vitality at all, and that this vitality would compel one to assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven. Rather, one should accept it coercively, against his better judgment. That is, the body does not agree to this enslavement, why the Creator does not shower him with vitality and pleasure.
The reason is that this is a great correction. Were it not for this, if the will to receive had agreed to this work, one would never have been able to achieve Lishma. Rather, he would always work for his own benefit, to satisfy his own desires. It is as people say, that the thief himself yells, “Catch the thief!” and then you cannot tell which is the real thief in order to catch him and reclaim the theft from him.
But when the thief, meaning the will to receive, does not find the work of accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven tasteful, since the body accustoms itself to work against its will, one has the means by which to come to work only in order to bring contentment to his Maker, since his sole intention should be only for the Creator, as it is written, “Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord.” Thus, when he served the Creator in the past, he did not sense any pleasure in the work. Rather his work was compulsory.
But now that he has accustomed himself to work in order to bestow, he is rewarded with delighting in the Creator, and the work itself renders him pleasure and vitality. This is considered that the pleasure, too, is specifically for the Creator.
Question (French): (11:48) Is Lishma the same as the second restriction?
M. Laitman: No, no. Before the second restriction and above the second restriction, in the first restriction, it is all for Lishma. The whole spirituality begins, all of it, in Lishma. There are degrees in Lishma, and according to that we see the ladder of degrees from this world all the way to Ein Sof. But all of these things are all in order to bestow, in Lishma.
Student: So, when you cross the barrier, you enter this state, right?
M. Laitman: Yes, the barrier, itself is entering for Lishma.
Question (Kyiv 1): (13:08) In the first part of this source, it writes that the prayer is what brings us to Lishma. Or the prayer itself is Lishma?
M. Laitman: No, the prayer is the request that we want to achieve something, and what we want to achieve, we want to attain actions of bestowal. They are called Lishma when we are doing it for the Creator. According to that, according to the equivalence of form, we begin to feel Him, understand Him, to receive from Him until we fill our vessels through these actions of bestowal; and this is how we reach attachment with Him.
Student: What is an action of bestowal?
M. Laitman: It’s when I am begin to be concerned about the group, about the Creator instead of caring only for myself, which is how I start the work according to my nature. Bit by bit, I reach a state when I feel that it is necessary to care for others. So, by me beginning to develop inside the inclination, I get closer to the quality called Lishma. And the whole of spirituality, the entire ladder of spiritual degrees from this world all the way to the world of Ein Sof, are all degrees of Lishma. The only question is, upon which egoistic desires do I determine it?
Student: I apologize but let's say I prepare a Zoom for the Ten, does that not mean I am in Lishma?
M. Laitman: It is along the way, of course, it is not Lishma, it’s a quality that is received already in the broken vessels of reception. And it corrects them to some extent to be in order to bestow, it inverts them from receiving to bestowing. So, what we acquire is the quality of bestowal, the thoughts of bestowal, calculations of bestowal, this is called Lishma. Actually, there is a difference between the true wisdom of Kabbalah that educates us how to reach this Lishma or kinds of other methods, all kinds of works by which the person makes exertions in this world. Kabbalah only engages in bringing the person to Lishma, to in order to bestow. Because there is no more, actually, it is either this world or the other world. The upper world works entirely to bestow, in Lishma, and this world is entirely in order to receive, in Lo Lishma. Lo Lishma is also a special state where a person wants to reach Lishma but he's not capable yet, so he sees that he is in Lo Lishma, he has not reached it yet. So, this is already at transition, this is before the barrier. The person is checking himself; he wants to rise above it but still he does not succeed, he cannot achieve yet the state of Lishma. Actually, here we have a few states: the state of this world, which is in complete beastliness, in order to receive, a state where we want to reach Lishma, but we have not reached it yet. This is called Lo Lishma, not for Her sake; we see, we measure, we admit that we already are in the egoistic desire. We see it, we understand it, we do not agree with it, but cannot rise above it, yet.
In the state of Lishma, we have the entire ladder of degrees, the 125 degrees of bestowal which we climb on. Some of the degrees are in order to acquire the bestowing in order to bestow, the quality of bestowal only over the coarseness of Shoresh, Aleph, Bet – 0, 1 and 2. The other half of the path, the way is very special. It is already in order to receive in order to bestow. It’s when we use the coarseness of Gimel and Dalet, 3 and 4, and this is how we reach the state of end of correction. Where overall of the desires that have been revealed in each one and in all of us together, we reach actions of in order to bestow. From between us inside of the system, and from this whole system all in all also to the upper force that created this system, who exists inside the system, reviving this system, which is the Creator.
Question (Tel Aviv 4): (19:10) What does it mean that there is no exertion for the ones who serve the Creator? It seems there are still ascents and descents, but there is no exertion? What does it mean?
M. Laitman: If the person reaches the quality of bestowal and he works in the quality of bestowal, he receives strength from above to work with that quality of bestowal above reception. So, he has no exertion anymore. He is working with the force he is getting from the Creator, the quality of bestowal, right? And he is fulfilled through this force, and he has no efforts, all of the efforts are to reach the quality of bestowal. But to be in it, to live in it, in the quality of bestowal, it does not cost any effort.
Student: But there is work later to overcome the ego?
M. Laitman: Yes, it is an effort, but it is not work anymore, it is already a reward, it is already a pleasure when I can overcome it. To the extent I overcome it, I feel myself as being lifted, elevated. About this, it says, taste and see that the Lord is good. We will reach it and see. This is much more pleasant, the most important is to enter the first degree of spirituality. And the higher and higher we rise, even though it seems that the problems are getting greater, however, we get forces, awakenings more.
Question (Almaty 1): (21:26) Lishma, is that state something that stays forever?
M. Laitman: No, it is exits and entries because each time I arrive to a certain state, when I receive a new desire to receive and I work with it and correct it with the intention to bestow, so I am finished with this work, whatever I received. I get a new portion then I feel a will to receive which is revealed in me, and it is always a sudden, and it's always deeper. And it is unpleasant in the first moment, and later on a shrink myself, and I realize that this is to my benefit, and I have to rise over this also. And by that I will get a greater recognition and closeness to the Creator, and this is how we advance.
Question (Holland 1): (22:48) It says in the article that Lishma is not an awakening from above, one must give awakening from below, through prayer. And then it says, what does an awakening from above mean before obtaining Lishma? What does this awakening from above mean when it comes from below because we have to pray?
M. Laitman: It says: there is no person; the person is not awakening from below if he is not awakened from above. Because if we are talking about awakening towards the Creator, towards bestowal, towards connection, these are qualities that do not exist in us at all. We have the opposite qualities, which are qualities of separation, distancing from each other, and if we do come closer, then we come closer in order to use the other, and only in such a way. Therefore, this is what we feel.
Student: What is this awakening from above, specifically, before one comes to Lishma, before one attains Lishma? What is this awakening from above?
M. Laitman: I do not know, let's say that now you are sitting in the lesson, why did you come to the lesson? Who gave you this desire, the power, the awakening? Well, it clearly came from above, it is not that the beast wants to get up and comes to the lesson, all of this is an awakening from above. But we need to reach a state where we wake up ourselves by ourselves through an awakening from below, coming from us, towards adhesion with the Creator; this is actually our work in the group. Bit by bit, during the ascent, or on the degrees more and more, we determine on our own that we wants to get closer to the Creator. Each higher degree is considered that we yearn more toward Creator. That we demand Him more, that we are more capable of having a grip on the degree, to hold on to it to elevate ourselves even more. This is it, and each time the Lishma from one degree to the next greater, then it’s more in order to bestow, it is further away from the ego, and this is how we get closer.
Question (Baltia 3): (26:29) There is something not clear, if we say that there is a law that the will to receive cannot advance without pleasures. So, there is a transitional phase between being taking our strength away from you until we get the force of bestowal. So, in this transitional phase, what is your fuel?
M. Laitman: I do not think that we can find words for it for the time being later, of course, we will be able to talk about these things and examine them. The Creator always gives a person a part of the desire, the awakening and fuel in a revealed manner. And a part of the desire and the fuel in a concealed way, this is how one advances – this is one thing. The second thing is that besides that, there is the matter of habit becoming a second nature, we get fuel from that as well, we get fuel out of us being in an environment, in a family, and among friends. So, there are many reasons that work on us, and we do not quite understand how they become established in us, how they bring us to the goal.
Student: At the moment the Creator wakes us up from a state of unconsciousness and His force motivates us when I am simply unable to accept it, what we called, Lo Lishma, but anyhow, the Creator is what moves us?
M. Laitman: Of course we do advance all the time, and this is called, Lo Lishma because it's not according to our request, according to our prayer. Whereas if our progress comes to us through the prayer, then it is called, Lishma, according to the degree of our participation with the Creator.
Student: So, we are never left powerless?
M. Laitman: Yes, the Creator always leads us to the goal, so it is says, whatever the mind does not do, the time will do. The most important thing is their persistence, and always, sooner or later, maybe it is in 10 years. But the person will awaken and continue the path, and reach whatever he is supposed to reach. The most important thing is that he is there, that he is ready, willing. This is why it says anything but leave – if you are in a group, in an environment that is advancing, all in all somehow, then for sure the Creator is taking care of you in whenever it is needed.
Question (Darom 1): (30:12) Taste and see that the Lord is good, where is this taste felt? In the Ten, in this world?
M. Laitman: Taste and see that the Lord is good the, Taamim, taste, the flavors. This already refers to the light that expands from the Peh in the Rosh of the spiritual Partzuf down to the Tabur. Those lights are called, Taamim [flavors] and in that we feel indeed that the Creator created is only for our benefit so we could be filled with the upper light.
Student: So, it does not fall in this world? We do not feel it in this world?
M. Laitman: No, the upper light cannot be felt by a person who exists only in this world. The person has to acquire the vessels of bestowal and in the vessels of bestowal, he feels the upper light; otherwise, there is no connection between the vessel and the light.
Question (Moscow 5): (31:34) Can a person be in Lo Lishma if he has not reached the first degree of Lishma?
M. Laitman: You want to say that this is like two legs – that if I reach Lishma, then you can say that I'm opposite, in Lo Lishma? That is true, but it is already beyond the barrier; below the barrier, we are at the time of preparation as we call it. It is Lo Lishma, but it is Lo Lishma in preparation; later on, against any spiritual thing on the right side in order to bestow, we have the left side, which is in order to receive. Against the Kedusha, holiness we have the Klipa, the shell, and this is how we discover each time Lo Lishma and Lishma, Lo Lishma and Lishma, and we always start from the darkness from Lo Lishma. You said it correctly.
Question (Zafon 2): (32:52) How can I know when the awakening is from above or from below?
M. Laitman: What do you mean an awakening from below, from the friends? I do not know how you define it.
Student: When I wake up in the morning, how do I know it is me awakening it or it comes from above?
M. Laitman: When you get up in the morning, it is either habit becomes second nature: Let's say that I have been waking up for 50 years, so, it is a habit already. I cannot sleep from midnight or 1 a.m., onwards. Later on, at 10 in the morning, I can sleep again, if I do not have shoot-outs or work, then I can sleep another half an hour or an hour, that’s a habit.
Question (Kyiv 2): (34:17) If we can be precise about this question?
M. Laitman: Lishma is a state when the person wants and he's already capable of working to a certain degree out of his desire towards the Creator; that’s it, it’s is a direction of the work with the desire for the Creator. This measure determines the Partzuf the person is building to the Creator, then there is a Rosh and the Toch and Sof. It's all according to the measure of bestowal, or Lishma, that the person acquired.
Question (PT 14): (35:18) In the end, he writes that even though we do not feel the flavor of the work, the habit turns it into a reward. How can we work against the desire and turn it into a habit. How is it possible to work against the desire without feeling reward but working by habit. I see that for me; any small thing is a big effort. How can you get used to it?
M. Laitman: We get used to it; we know it from our life that habit becomes second nature. Even though we do the same thing, the person reaches a state where he already what he does, becomes close to him, it is clear. The vessels, the desire to receive, gets impressions from it, and the person even starts to love it. And even things that previously were unpleasant to the will to receive, they start to become more desirable for it. And it relates to them with patience; this is the nature of the desire to receive.
Question (Turkiye 3): (36:44) In the article, it says that by obtaining Lishma, one puts the evil inclination to death. You said there are 125 steps to attain Lishma. How to define the evil inclination in the work, and should we work with it individually?
M. Laitman: The evil inclination means everything, anything that stops me or obstructs me in my connection with the group, and the connection of the group with the Creator – and this evil inclination is under the control of the Creator. This is the vessel with which the Creator works. Deliberately wakes up in us the rejection from the group, the rejection from the Creator. The Creator himself does it in order to stimulate us. In order to turn us a little bit in this way, to elevate our sensitivity to the connection between us. And from the connection between us, to the connection with Him, with the Creator. Without the evil inclination we cannot detect there we are in relation to the Creator and between us. So, we need to prepare that connection between us and then from the connection between us, we have to reach out to the Creator. And then we can truly have a vessel in which we can receive the revelation of the Creator between us. This entire vessel is built both in the connection between us and also in the connection between us and the Creator in the form of bestowal. In all kinds of different forms, different measures, but they are all considered Lishma because we want to bestow, to connect to the others, to connect through the others, to do good to others. So, this is called, Lishma, it is the opposite of our original nature.