The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: August 5, 2025
Part 1: Recorded lesson - October 30, 2021
Baal HaSulam. Shamati 39. And They Sewed Fig Leaves
Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson we are studying from Shamati articles. Today we are continuing with Article 39, “And They Sewed Fig Leaves,” and you can find the article in kabbalahmedia.info. There's also a link in the study materials in the Arvut system, Shamati 39, “And They Sewed Fig Leaves.”
Reading: (00:33) Shamati 39. And They Sewed Fig Leaves
I heard on Shavat, 26, February 16, 1947
The leaf refers to the shade that it puts on the light, meaning on the sun. There are two shades: One comes from the side of Kedusha [holiness], and the other comes due to a sin.
Thus, there are two kinds of concealment of the light. As the shade conceals the sun in corporeality, so there is concealment on the upper light, called “sun,” which comes from the side of Kedusha, namely because of a choice. This is as it is written about Moses, “And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look.”
The shade comes because of fear, and fear means that one is afraid to receive the abundance, that he may not be able to aim to bestow. It follows that the shade comes because of Kedusha, meaning that one wants to adhere to the Creator.
In other words, Dvekut [adhesion] is called bestowal, and he is afraid that he might not be able to bestow.
It turns out that he is adhered to Kedusha, and this is called “A shade that comes from the side of Kedusha.”
There is also a shade that comes due to a sin. It means that the concealment comes to him not because he does not want to receive, but on the contrary, it is because one wants to receive in order to receive. This is why the light leaves, since the whole difference between Kedusha and Klipa [shell] is that the Kedusha wants to bestow and the Klipa wants only to receive, and not to bestow at all. For this reason, that shade is considered to come from the side of the Klipa.
There is no counsel to exit that state, except as it is written, “and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles.” Girdles refer to forces of the body that joined in the form of a shade of Kedusha. It means that although now they do not have light since the abundance departed due to the sin, they still overcame in serving the Creator by mere force, above reason. This is called “by force.” This is the meaning of the verse, “And they heard the voice of the Lord, etc., and the man and his wife hid,” meaning they went into the shade. This is the meaning of “and Moses hid his face,” meaning Adam HaRishon did the same as Moses.
“And He said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid.’” Naked means stripped from the upper light.
Then the Creator asked, What is the reason that you came to the shade, called “and I hid”? It is because I am naked. Is it because of a shade of Kedusha or because of a sin? The Creator asked him, “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” meaning because of a sin.
But when the shade comes because of a sin, it is called “images, image makers, and sorcerers,” which is “God has made them one opposite the other.” As there are forces in Kedusha to make changes and to show signs and omens, so there are forces in the Sitra Achra. This is why the righteous do not use these forces, because of “one opposite the other,” so as not to give strength to the Sitra Achra to do as they do.
Only on exceptional occasions does the Creator not give the Sitra Achra the same force that is in Kedusha. It is like Elijah on Mt. Carmel saying, “Answer me,” so they would not say that it is witchcraft, meaning that there is the strength to conceal the upper light.
Hence, girdles that come from the side of the fig leaves, which is from the sin of the tree of knowledge, these leaves, meaning this shade that comes due to the sin, since the cause is not from the side of Kedusha, when they choose to take shade by themselves, but they take the shade because they have no other choice, this can work only to exit the state of descent. But afterward, the work must begin anew.
Reader: Now friends, we will learn a lesson that Rav gave from October 30th, 2021 about this article.
Question (Bulgaria 1): (07:07) How to restrict the will to receive if we don't feel any pleasure in the work?
M. Laitman: I can restrict the will to receive through envy, lust, and honor. Envy, lust, and honor take a person out from the world. I envy them. I have my self-respect. I want to show myself as greater. I feel all of it in my ego. So envy, lust, and honor are the means by which I can bring myself out, exit myself from the corporeal world, and shift myself to the entry into the spiritual world, because I want to be great in their eyes. I envy them for being greater than me. I want to feel that I am already in the spiritual world, and it seems to me like they feel spiritual discernment, and I am totally not in it. So where is my respect? Where am I? What have I achieved? What have I gained? I work so hard, and what? I remain the same? It's called the fool sits and folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. So the more I try to do all kinds of spiritual actions toward the society - to bestow, to encourage them, to help - by this I bring myself out from the corporeal world to the spiritual world.
Question (Holland 1): (09:23) We talked about this choice, this point of choice on the shade. Once you do not have, let's say, a choice, and you can have a choice. So, what is this force that gives me the possibility that I can choose or not choose? What is this point of choice? What's happening here?
M. Laitman: Maybe in one step, did you understand what he's asking?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:58) He's asking about the choice.
M. Laitman: Oh, well.
Student: He writes here that the shade might come out of choice or not out of choice, so he's asking about that.
M. Laitman: So, a shade that comes over a person comes either because a person chooses to be in the shade, or he doesn't choose the shade, but the shade comes by itself.
Student: Yes, exactly. That's what I mean. That's a choice. Yes, but it says here that you can, let's say, that you can choose. Is there a point that I can choose? Everything comes from the Creator, and have you a choice, let's say, on choosing this shade? Where does it come from, this choice?
M. Laitman: The choice comes from the concealment. The choice comes from the concealment. You have a concealment on you, and if you choose the right, if you make the right choice, then you continue. You continue, and then you are in concealment, in your choice in concealment, and this is regarded as “I covered His shade, and His food was sweet to my palate,” meaning the more I'm in concealment, within the concealment, I begin to receive the fruits.
You know, the fruit grows under the leaves. If there are no leaves, it dries out before it becomes ripe, so it is actually in concealment that we grow. You have to love the concealment. There is a very sweet pleasure, a very special pleasure in a person hiding himself from the Creator, because he wants to benefit the Creator, so that the Creator will not even know that it came from me. If I love Him, I want Him to be happy, not necessarily that He will know that I did it, that all those good things will be done for Him from everyone, and I will be on the side. I'll only be the cause of it, and He won't even look at me. He won't know about me. It's a feeling that anyone can understand.
Question (Holland 1): (12:53) The sweetness of concealment you just addressed, is this considered already an act of bestowal?
M. Laitman: The sweetness from concealment, you're asking good questions, but there are scrutinies here. I still haven't risen above my will to receive, so that I will be able to make the right scrutiny over your question. You understand? I have to be at a certain level above my ego, with a restriction, a screen, and then according to that level, I can measure what is the right quality of my act. As you say, in such a state, you can already demand to know exactly and measure exactly in which form of bestowal I'm in. Turn to Him, ask Him, go with His question, start implementing it, checking it somehow from various sides, and then you'll see what you get in return through your searches, and tell us about it tomorrow.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:28) Why do we even need revelation then?
M. Laitman: What revelation?
Student: Revelation, revelation of the quality of bestowal, this whole thing about falling in love with concealment, working out of concealment.
M. Laitman: But it's not the end. It is not the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is connection. The revelation of the love, embrace, kiss. There are things here that are not bestowal, they are revelations.
Student: But the concealment has to be there always, to remain.
M. Laitman: This is something else. If I rise to the intention to bestow, then I conceal my will to receive. I invert it to be in order to bestow, and then I reveal my corrected heart.
Student: But it's as if all of man's work is on the concealment, not about the revelation. That's what I'm talking about. What about the revelation? Where do these things become revealed?
M. Laitman: To turn the concealment into a vessel for revealing, yes.
Student: Okay, so what is revealed and where?
M. Laitman: It's revealed in that same vessel. To the extent that Moses hid himself, he was rewarded with building from it, above his concealment, a vessel for the revelation of the Creator.
Student: Interesting.
M. Laitman: It's okay. With lessons like right now, if we manage to get into them, we will not only come to it quickly, but we will also... My purpose is to nevertheless create a foundation, a basis for everyone who wants to, those who want to for the future events.
Student: How can one even hide himself from the Creator? What is this game?
M. Laitman: To the extent that he wants to hide it, he hides it, as if we're playing the Creator with the Creator. The Creator is playing with us. How do parents play with their children? It's all in order to develop the children.
Student: I'm saying, from the side of the Creator, clearly a person cannot hide from Him, right? I cannot hide from Him. What can I hide from the Creator? He sees through my heart and...
M. Laitman: No, no, that's obvious. But a person needs to work on himself in such a way that he acquires on himself a new form of the Creator each time.
Student: Okay, so taking the form of the Creator over myself, is that considered to hide from Him? What does it mean to hide myself from the Creator?
M. Laitman: Concealing myself from my real self, from my will to receive. The man is the one who wants to rise above the evil man, the egoistic man that is present, and to build above it the image of the man who is similar to the Creator.
Student: So the person actually hides himself from his ego, from the will to receive. This is what he hides himself from, not from the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, yes. If I didn't have an ego, I wouldn't hide anything. On the contrary, I'd be exposed, open. Well, soon we will have to, maybe, even go over this article again.
Question (Volga): (18:17) I heard from you that I do not annul before the friends, but rather, in fact, I'm annulling before the connection among the friends. I didn't quite understand what is the difference.
M. Laitman: Well, it's a big difference. I measure myself, check myself, tie myself to a connection between all the friends and the center of the group. Before this, I annul. In other words, what stands before me as an image that I want to reach, that I want to be connected to? What is before me? Before me is a special group, a united group, connected. It stands in a way that it prepares itself for the revelation of the Creator. And into this group, I want to go, and be in it, and dissolve there. This is what I want. This is my work. It is written that, in various verses, that we're not seeing the real situation, that in truth, I'm in connection with the group that is at the end of correction already. But all who fault, fault in their own fault. So I see them the way I am, the way I see according to my corruptions, therefore above what I see in my corruptions, I have to rise above it, and I have to know how they seem to me in the corruptions, as it is written, a judge has only what his eyes see. But I have to rise above it and sentence them to the side of merit, that they are all corrected, complete, perfect, at the end of correction, in connection, in love, but in each detail that I detect in each of them, and in all of them together as a Ten, I see my own flaws, and I have to correct them, one at a time, until I see them as complete, as whole. This is our work in the group, and to that extent, we gradually reveal the wholeness of the group, that there is a power there that sustains them, it is a concealed force and it is the Creator, and in this way, we come to Him, we begin to detect Him, to see Him. He Himself even opens Himself up and says, “Come, I've been waiting for you for so many years, where have you been?”, until I find this method, this correct direction. It is all in the connection between the person and the group, and the gift is contact with the Creator who is in the group. This is called, “I dwell among my own people.”
Question (Kyiv 2): (22:20) It says in the text, that they took this shade, because they had no other counsel. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: I don't know, I don't want to go so deep in there. It's an appropriate question, but we have no choice, we have to choose the same path that we now see, that we can advance only above reason, in short.
Question (Tel Aviv 4): (23:03) He writes here, in the first column, girdles means forces of the body, and they are connected in the shade of Kedusha. What are the forces of the body that we can connect to the shade of Kedusha?
M. Laitman: All kinds of desires. I see that you are going into the details of the article, but they are written here, only in order to imply our inner forces, how we should be in concealment from within our desire, from within our choice, and then through the concealment we build conditions, we establish conditions, by which that fruit of the tree of knowledge will grow.
Student: What does it mean when he writes here, by mere force above reason? What is this force by which they were able to overcome above reason? It's only by potential, that they didn't have the light.
M. Laitman: That precisely out of the darkness they come to a state where they can build screens, the concealment, by themselves. How do we know that we have to conceal ourselves? Because we see, gradually, we feel how the Creator hides Himself from us. This is why He is called a God who hides. He hides behind every single thing. What we're seeing in this world is all shadows, shadows of the Creator. He hides, and hides, and hides, and hides. His light, which is present in the concealment, is what appears to us in all kinds of forms of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking. It is all light. And after we discover these forms of concealment, by ourselves being able to establish such design, such forms of concealment, then the concealments from the Creator disappear, and we see that everything is the upper light, and there is no image, no shade, nothing. Only the endless upper light. But in the meantime, among us and between us and the Creator, there are all kinds of forms of bestowal, and they are the still, vegetative, animate and speaking forms of concealment, the four degrees of concealment.
Student: What is this force?
M. Laitman: Whose force?
Student: This force. Where does this force come from so that you can go above reason when there is concealment?
M. Laitman: From the light. When I try, with my powers, by adhering to the friends, by being willing to annul myself before them, I am drawn to the Creator, and by this I create conditions for the upper light to influence me. And in this way, it gradually corrects me and advances me to being like it. It is through our efforts. And the efforts can't be me toward the Creator, because there is no connection. The connection exists only through the Ten. This is why it's written: either company together or death.
Student: So it simply means to simply put yourself in the Ten and...
M. Laitman: Yes. Not just put yourself in the Ten. You put yourself in the Ten, and every day and every moment you put yourself more, and more and more into it. But the Creator has to be the goal. We have to be more vigilant, alert toward it. I think that now the time is coming when we will work on it strongly. We were in some preparatory period, and with the articles of Shamati we're going into some sort of this machine where the light is beginning to work on us more. I'm just asking, during the day, at any possible moment, go over the article again, the one we studied in the morning lesson, even a thousand times, even a thousand times, it doesn't matter. And if we should agree, where is the one who's in charge of our lessons,
Student: In PT6.
M. Laitman: PT6, the friend. He likes to work in concealment. He shouldn't be shy. Where is he? I don't see him. I told you he's hiding.
Student: I'm here.
M. Laitman: Here, where? Oh, on top.
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: All right. Everyone look at them. Well, everyone knows he is less in concealment.They have a team, but basically the two of them
They have a team, but basically these two friends are the ones who provide us with the study material for the lesson. So, I'm dependent on them. Yesterday I got mad at them for not receiving an article for today by noontime. And I like to see it after the morning lesson. You see, now, I come out of the lesson, then I want to already be in tomorrow's lesson. Why? I read it, I turn it this way, that way. Maybe there are words there that I don't understand. I have all kinds of phrases from the sources and sentences that I don't really understand, and so on and so forth, until it's clear to me technically. This is number one.
Number two, until it is clear to me what the article is made of, from which parts, so each and every part, each and every paragraph, has its own inner content that I have to reveal. So, I need to write next to it what it's about, and then the difference between the paragraphs. Then I begin to follow the intellect of the one who wrote it, the intellect of Baal HaSulam. Although it's processed by Rabash, but still, both are here. Who do I have who is closer in this world than spiritual people? Only they. So in this way I learned how they work, how they think, why they do it this way, that way. By connecting so much to their text, I want to penetrate into it, into Rabash and into Baal HaSulam, into this spiritual concept, into the spirituality that they live in. And this is why I like to receive the article as soon as possible then for the next day. And then I process it in this way. I also add periods and commas, all kinds of things that are comfortable for me. Maybe it doesn't go along with proper grammar, but it's according to how I think it should be. What else? I draw lines under pieces of the sentence. Sometimes I mark or I turn some text into bold text. So I prepare myself, and I live in this text throughout the day and in the morning lesson with you. And I leave for you afterwards a whole day to be with the text, with this article. But in the meantime, I'm already preparing myself for the next article. And this is how we advance. I really hope that it will yield fruits quickly if you do exactly what I recommend.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:49) Can I ask a general question about Shamati?
M. Laitman: Yes, if I can answer.
Student: Because there are many exciting things in this session that now we're scanning through all of the articles. Really, there's so many disturbances and emotions. And one of the things is that what's felt is the string that ties between the articles, like a narrative. You read this article and remember the article about the shades of... And
M. Laitman: They are all the same article.
Student: It's amazing. We heard it many times, but now it's really felt. You can feel that...
M. Laitman: You have the upper force, you have the man below it, and the connection between them. There are no other topics. There are no other topics. There are three topics: the Creator, the created being, and the connection between them. That's it.
Student: There is a feeling that we are reading an article and seemingly all of the other articles are inside of it. You can feel them from behind, and everything becomes rich and…
M. Laitman: Correct. Correct.
Student: Should we work with it in such a way? Should we look to go back, or should we try to connect it with other articles?
M. Laitman: I don't know if you should. Each one can do whatever he wants, but I can't recommend anything, because by this I can limit some, and others... No, no, I'm forbidden to do this. A person learns only what his heart desires.
Student: But the order of the articles, it's truly... It's not genius. It's godliness. It's amazing. How did you arrange it?
M. Laitman: There was this arrangement.
Student: You arranged it, so how did you do it?
M. Laitman: Yes, according to my inner feeling, according to the inner feeling. But you know, if you do it according to the inner feeling, then it's not you doing it, it is done through your hands. I hope that this is so. Whatever the case may be, if we work on it the way it is now, it is the basis, it is the central point of the connection between the upper force and the person. And there is no point that is more central, more important, more precious.
Question (Moscow 7): (35:43) I guess, it will be convenient to ask the Ten right now. As a Ten we are also going through this scrutiny. For a year and a half we read Rabash's articles in our evening meetings. In fact, we read all of the articles that were translated to Russian by Rabash. And now we are scrutinizing what should we do next. When Shamati started, of course, it grabbed hold on us. And there is a desire to shift to Shamati now. But it turns out that leaving Rabash is something we also don't want to do. So, we have some disagreements on this. So, what do you recommend?
M. Laitman: I recommend going along with us and study the articles of Shamati the way we are learning them now. And at the same time, in parallel, to work on the lesson, meaning the Shamati articles we are doing now. And out of this, you create a composition afterwards. Process an article out of the questions and answers, with the questions and answers and everything we are saying, so that out of every article you have a complete box. And afterwards, it will be a good preparation for the people who will come after us. We have to also think about that.
Student: Maybe you can give some recommendation regarding the processing of the article. As a Ten or …
M. Laitman: Each one should do what is comfortable for him. We have all studied, maybe went to university, we are used to working with texts. And so, afterwards, during the day, we can take someone, so he will read the way he does it, and the rest are listening to what he did with the article, what we should add, etc. And work on the whole text in this way. The articles are not long. Now we are working on short articles. We are not even going according to the order. Afterwards, we will divide the longer articles, there are only a few, and we will go over them in pieces, in parts. So, I recommend that during the day, you work on the articles that we learn in the morning, and prepare them as completely as possible to be published, even printed. Because, I'll tell you, what you're learning now, by what you're learning now, you are creating a basis, a central point of all the knowledge, all of man's connection with the upper force. And, therefore, if we can present it in a simpler way, closer way to all of humanity, it will be a beautiful place for everyone to enter, because in the end, everyone must know it. “They shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” as it is written. So, try to work on it during the day. This is certain to give you personal and group advancement.
Question (ITA 4): (39:49) In concealment from the part of the Sitra Achra [the other side], what's the difference between that and the concealment of holiness?
M. Laitman: The Sitra Achra [the other side], it doesn't want concealment. It wants everything to be revealed and to devour everything. And so because the Creator wants equivalence of form, that is, that the created being will achieve this equivalence with Him and not oppositeness. Opposiveness brings darkness. Equivalence of form brings light, eternity, wholeness. So we have to try to identify with the force of bestowal.
Student: How does a person who conceals himself, how can a person conceal himself from the other side or work against it?
M. Laitman: I have to be aligned in a direction aimed at the Creator. So, everything that belongs to identifying with Him, being closer to Him, I accept it and I follow it. I do that, and anything I see is opposite, I don't touch, I stay away. So, there's no choice, even though I dislike it, but bit by bit I feel that I must come closer to the friends, which is completely not in my character. I'm talking about each and every one, but certainly me. I'm a person who can live alone in the woods my entire life, not even look at anyone. And so, we have to slowly develop a Kli that will be ready for, compatible for the revelation of the Creator. Now, perhaps I don't understand your question, repeat it then.
Student: This is a question, I need to choose to work for the Ten, meaning I conceal my will to receive, is that right? That's the meaning of working in a concealment like Moses did?
M. Laitman: Yes, like Adam Harishon, who discovered that he has a will to receive and therefore he concealed it.
Question (ITA 4): (43:09) A lot of times you say that we need to work with the Shamati articles, to take it, to print it, to write on it, but I feel difficulty to write on something so huge. What criterions can we use to do this work?
M. Laitman: Make a summary, from each article make a summary, not a long one, let's say five, ten lines, that's very important. What do I come away with out of the article? There's some things here about Adam HaRishon, Sitra Achra, the leaves, the trees, perhaps, the serpents and whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I want to know how it has to do with me. How do I translate all of these discernments, all of these findings of the article, how do I translate them to the close and important things for me? That's it.
Student: Many times I saw that you opened the book and you wrote between the lines of the book. Is that what you're calling a summary? Or is it something you felt a need to write in a different way than what the writer did?
M. Laitman: Also, in writing it differently, because I look at how he wrote, to me it's a very high language. Some of the words I don't even understand. Some sentences are taken from the Torah, from a source that I maybe read before, but barely heard. So, you understand? So, first I want to bring the text closer to me, to make it clear to me what it says, in a simple way. In a language I know, in a communication I can receive, and so I take the text and I try to slightly change it, slightly modify it, but just to make it clearer to me, closer to me. So, then I can connect with the text some more, and start to somehow follow it, realize it. That's very important. By that we come closer to the author, Baal HaSulam, Rabash. Besides the articles of Shamati, you don't have something that belongs to the spiritual work. That's why Rabash gave me the notebook. He knew that after he departs, I will publicize it, because that's my nature, not to keep anything. But he didn't want to do it in his name, that he is giving it. If he's already out of this world, then it can go out. And that's why I did it. And no one knew about these articles. None of his students knew. He gave me this in 1984, I think. Until he passed away, no one knew. No one. That's it. And when he passed away, then I sat and thought, what will I do with this treasure I'm holding? These things are so profound, so unique, so aiming the person towards the goal, even though it's not for everyone. And then I realized that Rabash knew my nature, that I'm completely aimed at dissemination and the global correction, and therefore he gave it to me this way. And so I printed it out. And then I made a copy of all the Shamati articles and gave to all the students of Rabash, who in the meantime scattered in many directions. Okay. I didn't keep to myself any source. I gave all the sources I got for everyone to copy it, so everyone knows what came from Baal HaSulam and Rabash. And not that I am printing it or writing it, and then people are studying from there. No, I want them to receive the sources.
Reader: We'll go to the next part of the lesson, The Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah.