Part 1: Preparation for the February 2025 Convention
Lesson 3: Only the Creator can help achieve Lishma
RABASH, Article No. 10 (1986), "Concerning Prayer"
Before one knows that he cannot obtain the vessels of bestowal by himself, he does not ask the Creator to give them to him. It follows that he does not have a real desire for the Creator to answer his prayer.
For this reason, one must work to obtain the vessels of bestowal by himself, and after all the work that he has put into it without obtaining it begins the real prayer from the bottom of the heart. At that time he can receive help from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”
But since this prayer is against nature, since man was created with a desire to receive, which is self-love, how can he pray to the Creator to give him the force of bestowal while all the organs oppose this desire? This is why this work is called “prayer,” meaning he must make great efforts to be able to pray to the Creator to give him the force of bestowal and annul man’s force of reception.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 5, "Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?
He should believe that the Creator accepts the work of the lower ones regardless of how and how much is the form of their work. In everything, the Creator examines the intention, and this brings contentment to the Creator. Then one is rewarded with “delight in the Lord.”
Even during the work of the Creator he will feel delight and pleasure since now he really does work for the Creator because the effort he made during the coercive work qualifies him to be able to truly work for the Creator. You find that then, too, the pleasure he receives relates to the Creator, meaning specifically for the Creator.
Lesson 4: Raising a prayer for Lishma
Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 5, "Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?"
The need for man’s work in order to receive the Lishma from the Creator is only in the form of a lack and a Kli [vessel]. Yet, one can never obtain the filling by himself; it is rather a gift from the Creator.
However, the prayer must be a complete prayer, from the bottom of the heart. This means that one knows one hundred percent that there is no one in the world who can help him but the Creator Himself.
Yet, how does one know this, that no one will help him but the Creator Himself? One can acquire that awareness precisely if he has exerted all the powers at his disposal and it did not help him. Thus, one must do every possible thing in the world to attain “for the sake of the Creator.” Then one can pray from the bottom of the heart, and then the Creator hears his prayer.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 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.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 79, "Atzilut and BYA"
One should come to learn Lishma, for the sake of the Torah, meaning that the Torah will teach him the ways of the Creator. And then he should first make the sweetening of Malchut in Bina, which means that he elevates Malchut, called “will to receive,” to Bina, which is considered bestowal. That is, that all his work will be only in order to bestow.
And then it becomes dark for him. He feels that the world has grown dark on him since the body gives strength to work only in the form of reception, and not in the form of bestowal. In that state, he has but one choice: to pray to the Creator to open his eyes so he can work in the manner of bestowal.
This is the meaning of “Who stands for the question?” It refers to Bina, called Mi [water] and the question comes from the verse, “asking about the rains,” meaning prayer. Since they arrive to the state of “water of Bina,” there is room to pray for it.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 19, "What Is 'The Creator Hates the Bodies,' in the Work?"
There is room for work precisely when the will to receive awakens.
Then one has close contact with the Creator to help him turn the will to receive to work in order to bestow. One must believe that from this extends contentment to the Creator, from his praying to Him to draw him near in the manner of Dvekut [adhesion], called “equivalence of form,” discerned as the annulment of the will to receive, so it is in order to bestow. The Creator says about this, “My sons defeated Me.” That is, I gave you the will to receive, and you ask Me to give you a desire to bestow instead.
RABASH, Article No. 40 (1990), "What Is, ‘For You Are the Least of All the Peoples,’ in the Work?”
A person sees that there is no way that he will be able to work with the desire to bestow and not for his own sake. Such a thing can happen only through a miracle from above. And indeed, this is called “the exodus from Egypt,” meaning to emerge from the mind he has by nature, where it is impossible to move unless he enjoys it. Conversely, here he is asking the Creator to give him the strength to work where he has no feeling or flavor, but to believe that the Creator enjoys this work, since it is all in order to bestow.
For this reason, this prayer is an honest prayer, since a person sees that he cannot hope to ever be able to do anything in order to bestow. It follows that a person feels that he is lost. At that time he has close contact with the Creator, and this is something that a person should appreciate—that he is asking the Creator to help him and there is no one in the world who can save him.
Part 2: The structure of the worlds
Baal HaSulam, Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES), part 2, Table of Answers for the Meaning of the Words, i.43
43. Screen (Part 3, item 2)
A screen is the force of restriction that awakens in the emanated being toward the upper light to stop it from descending to phase four. This means that as soon as it reaches and touches phase four, that force promptly awakens, strikes it, and pushes it back. This force is called a “screen.”
You must understand the difference between the screen and the restriction in the emanated being: They are two completely separate matters. The force of restriction that was performed on phase four is aimed toward the vessel in the emanated being, which is a yearning to receive. This means that because of the desire to equalize the form with the Emanator, he detained himself from receiving while yearning to receive, since the yearning in him, called “phase four,” is an upper force that the emanated being cannot revoke or diminish even a little. Rather, he can detain himself from wanting to receive despite the great yearning.
This force of detainment is always placed on phase four in the emanated being, except when he extends a new light. In that event, he must necessarily revoke the force of detainment, meaning the restriction in him, and a yearning for the upper light appears in him. That gives him the power to draw the light to himself.
Here begins the operation of a screen in the emanated being, since any yearning draws the upper light in completeness, as it was in Ein Sof, since it is an upper force, which the lower one cannot diminish. Hence, the light comes down in order to fill phase four.
However, the moment the light touches phase four, the screen awakens, strikes the light, and pushes it back. As a result, he receives only the light of the three phases, and phase four does not receive it.
You see that the screen operates only when the light comes, after the restriction is temporarily revoked in order to extend a new light, as was explained. However, the act of the restriction is permanent, restraining himself from extending light. Thus, the restriction and the screen are two completely separate discernments, and know that the screen is a result of the restriction.