Question:

Answer: What does it mean that the Creator speaks to a person? Has anyone heard this?

The Creator speaking to a person means that the person feels an inner impulse; he wants to do something, to carry something out. If this is an impulse toward spirituality, then one can say that it is as though the Creator is speaking to him. It is as if someone else were speaking all the other things. But is there anyone else? He plans and pushes you toward everything—both the bad and the good.

If this general force called the Creator pushes all of reality in this way without giving any part of that reality free choice or the ability to feel it, then His attitude toward reality is as toward the still, vegetative, and animate. But His attitude toward the speaking level is such that a person feels what he wants. In addition to sensing what he wants like an animal, he can also evaluate and analyze this desire, and begin to change it.

In order to make a human being out of the created being (Adam, from Edameh le-Elyon, “similar to the Creator”), He must give him all the states opposite to Himself, so that the person will choose from among them, and prefer to be similar to the Creator.

This is the whole of free choice, the entire right of choice that we have. If a person simply carried out every command from above, he would be a puppet. It is the same as the still, vegetative, and animate levels, which carry out the commands of nature. There is nothing special or unique in that.

Of course, this does not mean that the still, vegetative, and animate are separate from the Creator; they are connected with Him one hundred percent. They carry out whatever nature (Teva) determines, the Creator (Elokim, whose Gematria is equal to HaTeva) without any problem, without any questions, without any choice. This is not a degree; it is the zero level.

A person is called a human being because, in accordance with his own choice and awareness, he understands that this is how he should act; he justifies the Creator, and from all the qualities opposite to the Creator, chooses to be like Him. By doing so, he builds himself into a human being.
[358750]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work? ”

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Question:

Answer: Yes, any state comes from the Creator, but disconnection from godliness is received as punishment. How should a person respond to such a state? A person should bless the good as he blesses the bad, and the bad just as he blesses the good.

Disconnection from the ability to progress, from the ability to attain equivalence of form with the Creator, is truly the only punishment that exists in spiritual reality.

For us it becomes expressed even at the corporeal level through greater troubles, more negative experiences, diseases, and wars; it affects our physical bodies. Every good comes from the Creator, and every evil comes from His “Achoraim” (backside), from concealment. The problem is not with concealment itself, but how a person should accept it and relate to it.

Punishment is punishment, and there is no way around that. However, to the extent that a person feels the concealment, to that extent he does not agree with it. It is possible to correct the concealment through the quality of Hassadim to the extent that a person detaches from his personal sensations, rises above them, comes to the state of Hafetz Chesed, and thereby makes correction.

However, any rung less than the final correction is ultimately a punishment.
[358969]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None besides You,’ in the Work?”

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Question:

Answer: The desire to enjoy the light, and the aspiration for the light for the sake of correction itself are not exactly the same, but they are stages of one path. At first, I simply want to enjoy.

Then I begin to discern more and more clearly what kind of pleasure it is that I am striving for until I reach a state where the correction itself becomes a pleasure for me. Ultimately, the result of the correction becomes my pleasure. And the result of the correction is already bestowal to the Creator.

The fact is that we have only one means by which to draw upon ourselves the surrounding light that will change us. That means are the books. We must build an intention during the study.

An intention is a deficiency, a need (Hisaron) in my heart. This Hisaron is artificial. That is, during the study I think as though I desire the light to come and correct me. If I truly had such a desire, then I would not need to exert effort and labor.

I am told: “You must make an effort.” What does that mean? If I already want something, then I must exert effort in order to bring myself to such a state that during the study the desire to absorb the surrounding light, to be corrected and changed by it, determines everything.

The fact that I study and reflect on the material being studied is only a means. The fact that I will know how, where, and what is written, the numbers, how everything takes place, Galgalta, AB, SAG—all of this is only to familiarize me with the subject, to connect me to it, so that I may find myself inside this film, and while at the center of the events, choose for myself what is most essential, what I want from this film.

I open the book, and I begin to study. I am told about various things that supposedly take place in the spiritual world, supposedly within me. But in the end, what do I need from all this? What do I want to derive from it? One must be prepared for such demands, and in the most correct form possible.

Thus, effort and persistent labor must take place both before the lesson, and during the lesson.
[359127]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

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In spiritual work, there are two kinds of activity: the work in the mind (Mocha) and work in the heart (Liba), that is, the intention to bestow, and the action itself.

Gradually a person begins to feel from where and what comes to him. In truth, both the work of the mind and the work of the heart originate in the heart. It is said, “The heart understands.” The heart has, as it were, two parts: one that simply feels, without analysis (Avchanot), and another that both feels and analyzes. Through this analysis, a person is to some extent able to detach himself from the feeling. Yet both of these aspects are contained within the heart.

The same principle can be seen in a spiritual Partzuf. The Creator created the desire, which then, after feeling both itself and the host, as well as shame and the purpose of creation, builds a Rosh (head), as though above the heart, above the feeling. Yet it builds this Rosh according to the feeling.

It is written that in the world of infinity, “Before the emanations were emanated, and the creatures were created, the simple upper light filled the whole of reality.” At that stage, there was neither Rosh (head) nor Sof (end); there was only the Toch, the inner part of the Kli, filled with the light.

“When it arose in His simple will to create the worlds, and emanate the emanated beings,” then, after the Tzimtzum (restriction) and the establishment of the Masach (screen), the Rosh came into being. The Rosh calculates how much can be received into the Toch. As a result, a portion of the desire remains that receives nothing. This part is called the Sof (end).

In other words, the feeling, or more precisely, the desire to receive that was created by the Creator, builds a Rosh for itself based on all the existing conditions. By means of this Rosh, the desire plans how to make its actions similar to those of the Creator. This is why we say, “The heart understands” and “the heart decides.”

There can be a state in which the heart contains only feeling, without a Masach and without Tzimtzum. But at a certain point, a person acquires an understanding heart. This means that the qualities of Bina appear within the desire to receive. Bina imparts understanding (Havana).

Then the desire to receive, Malchut, together with Bina, that is, together with the quality of bestowal, builds what is called the Rosh of the Partzuf. Only then can we truly speak about the work of the mind and the work of the heart, about how to acquire these two forms of work and unite them into one.
[358710]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work? ”

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Is Slander Toward a Friend in a Society Engaged in Kabbalah the Same as Toward the Creator?

A society engaged in spiritual work aspires to act according to spiritual laws. The entire benefit of the society is that at the root, in the soul of Adam HaRishon, in the place where everyone exists at the highest spiritual degree, where all souls are connected together, we can draw strength and surrounding light. We must try to act from a state in which we are below that highest spiritual degree, as if we were already in that state, the higher one, as if we were already in it. This means that we long for it, and this is called “effort.” Effort means resembling a higher state.

If each member of the group tries to build their relationships with their friends as if they were already at the end of correction, this is called “applying effort.” To the extent that we all long for the corrected state of the end of correction to dwell among us, as it appears to us at the moment, then from that perfect state we will invite a surrounding light upon ourselves that will take care of us and correct us, and it will indeed draw us to the state of the end of correction. Therefore, we must behave in our environment according to “Love your neighbor as yourself” as much as possible.

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A person can only learn from the experience of their past states, from what they have personally lived through.

In the current state, one cannot determine anything within oneself, because one’s current thoughts and desires completely occupy the person and one acts based on them. What can a person do? They must raise a prayer, cleave to the upper, and surrender themselves to the upper one’s dominion, so that He will decide what a person will do now. So how does one do it?

A person cannot summon the strength to view their state from the outside and resist it because we are not able to split ourselves in two. However, I can know what my Reshimot (spiritual records) are from the past and how my current state compares to them; I can receive illumination from the upper, raise a prayer to Him, and ask Him to rule over me.

That is, I have only two options: either my current state controls me or the upper governance controls me, and I have to choose. If I take the feeling of the upper’s greatness from the group—which I can only obtain from the group since I cannot find the strength within myself—then I can use the desire obtained from the group, turn to Him from my current state, and surrender myself to His authority.

But if it were not for the group, I would not be able to turn to the upper. I would have no way of realizing that the upper is greater and more important than I am. After all, my current state determines what I want, think, see, and understand.

Of course, one might argue that a person still learns and feels something. This is true, but it only helps a person realize that they need to turn to the group, but it does not give them the strength to turn to the upper. In any case, a person first turns to the group, draws strength from it, and then turns to the Creator.
[358879]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work? ”

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Question:

Answer: Because the goal must be the attainment of a specific state, whereas the correction of the vessels is not the state, it is the means. You must certainly concern yourself with correcting this, but why you are correcting the Kli (vessel) is the essential question.

If you do not know why you should correct your Kli, then you become like those who observe the commandments simply because they have been told to do so. And if you were told something else, you would behave differently.

If you perform corrections without understanding their purpose, then they are merely pseudo-corrections. If, simply because you have nothing better to do, you want to become a good person, that is your personal choice. The Torah does not demand that. The Torah requires a person to attain adhesion, equivalence of form, to become Adam, similar to the upper one (Edameh leElyon). If you simply want to be good, that is fine; there are many people who say they are good.

So why should you correct yourself? What is the reason for correction? What will it give you? Some kind of personal satisfaction? You reason as follows: “I am told that my goal is to attain similarity to the Creator, to adhere to Him. As He is merciful, so I should be merciful; as He is compassionate, so I should be compassionate. But I do not know who He is, so how can I know what I am supposed to become?”

So you return to the same question: if I do not know who He is, how can I know what I am supposed to correct? You say you are willing to engage only in correction, but how can you correct yourself if you do not know the standard by which you are to measure yourself? On the one hand, it is said: “From Your actions we shall know You.” On the other hand, which actions? How am I to know what I am supposed to be?

“Why do I need the revelation of the Creator?” This is the question you are really asking. I need His revelation in order to become like Him, in order to know what I am supposed to be. If you demand His revelation for this purpose, then He will reveal Himself to you. This is what it means that one comes from Lo Lishma (not for His sake) to Lishma (for His sake).

Of course, you desire His revelation because you want to feel good. Yet at the same time there is already a certain attitude toward Him. You value Him, you want Him. Then the Creator reveals Himself to you, but only to the extent that this revelation will correct you, rather than merely fill you. What does it mean to correct you? It means that you receive His qualities, not the pleasure that comes from Him.

The light of correction means that the Creator imparts His greatness to you: “See how merciful I am, and how good this quality is.” As you perceive this, you begin to recognize that this quality is good, that it is higher than your own.

Thus, His revelation comes in two forms: either as the one who corrects you, or as the one who fills you.

Accordingly, this is what you should ask of Him. Prayer is correct when you first ask Him for correction, and only afterward for fulfillment.
[358584]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

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We need to change our attitude to what is happening to us and redefine it according to true spiritual concepts rather than our own perception.

This means that everything you see in yourself and around you are the results, the consequences, of what is happening above. The roots are above; the branches are below. And if that is how you look at it, then at least you see the true picture. How to react to it is another question.

But if what we see is a consequence, then your attitude toward yourself and what is happening changes. The situation has been determined from above, and nothing can be done about it. The question is, what do I need to do to bring about correction so that something different will descend from above?

What becomes important is proper planning. What must I do for a different picture to descend from above? This is a completely different approach to life! Then the entire connection is directed upward, so to speak. You look at this world as a laboratory in which various experiments are being conducted.

So here we see only the consequences, and it is necessary to ask questions about what needs to be done to get a different result. Then in everything: in action, in intention, and in the heart there is an upward orientation toward the Creator, for that is the only place where we can truly exert influence.

But if we simply bustle about in this world without connecting what is happening with the upper world, then it is a waste of time. After all, our world is called: an illusory world.

You see consequences, like images on a television screen, and nothing more. You might think that if you shout at the television, something in it will change. In order for something to change on television, you need to reach out to real people, and then maybe something might change. So, it is with us; it is just a picture on a television screen.
[358894]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work?”

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Question:

Answer: Anything can be connected. Give me two statements, and I will connect them just like that. It is not a problem. The question is, what does this actually mean? The feeling of darkness is advancement; it is an ascent but in the left line.

Question: How can you feel perfection along with the feeling of darkness?

Answer: While in darkness, a person cannot feel perfection, otherwise, they would not feel the darkness. This state is not bad; we must experience darkness. The question is, why does one descend into darkness and what does one do while in it?

In Part 12 of  The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Talmud Eser Sefirot [TES]), we studied the nature of evening and nighttime corrections. When evening falls, we take all the Kelim of the previous day and perform evening corrections while we are still able to recite the “Shema” and “Arvit” prayers, then we perform corrections by reciting the “Shema” before going to sleep, and starting at midnight we begin to raise the Kelim de Aba ve Ima (vessels of father and mother), etc.

This is how you must descend into darkness and work in it, including performing corrections during your sleep. You do not simply come to a state where you want to shed the old soul and take on a new degree, a new soul. Tomorrow will bring you a new degree, and you must be ready starting at night.

Question: How can you feel elated and in darkness at the same time?

Answer: If you perceive darkness as something useful, you will be glad of it. You will bless the Creator and remain in adhesion with Him in the darkness as well. At the same time, I am not talking about our level, but about others where there are corrections, for example, “60 breaths of a horse,” etc. There are various night corrections a person makes intentionally to move from one degree to another. We are talking about very significant things.

Out of the darkness, we reveal all the “Avchanot” (internal definitions of properties), and then simply correct them by adding intent. New desires are revealed from darkness.
[358628]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Chapter 18. The Root of Hatred

In this world it is customary that refraining from slander means that a person should not speak ill of their friend, that people should be good to one another, and that every person should examine themselves before saying something critical about another. Today, there are so many thick books on the subject that before people do something or approach someone, they first check the law books of slander to see how it is advisable to approach and how they can protect themselves through what is written. That is, people do not examine their hearts, but rather look at “what is written in the books” and act according to what is written. What is written is permitted, and what is not written is not.

In other words, importance is given to what a person utters with their mouth, while there is no discussion about what takes place in the heart. That belongs to the hidden teaching. For the general public, for the still level, this is indeed the accepted path and appropriate for its degree. However, “slander” is certainly not what we express with our mouth or even what we feel in our heart toward the environment, but only what we feel toward the Creator. What we feel toward the Creator is either slander or good speech.* The sole intention is with regard to the Creator.

Since the entire purpose is to reach adhesion with the Creator and the only way to do so is to improve my qualities so they will be in equivalence of form with Him, everything I do is always to compare myself to Him: where I am, where the Creator is, how much I understand who He is, what He is, how I can make this correction, reduce the gap between us, how much I value the situation as beneficial for progress that He builds around me and within me, and how much I understand His state.

The way a person feels this entire situation, even before they examine and criticize it, is essentially their attitude toward the world that the Creator has shaped for them, and if they are not satisfied with it, their attitude toward their life is called “slander.”

In the wisdom of Kabbalah we learn that our soul includes two parts:
GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) – vessels of bestowal, called “Israel.”
AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) – vessels of reception, called “the nations of the world.”

The general correction is that until the end of correction it is impossible to use the vessels of reception, but only the AHP that ascend through their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of reception themselves are called “gentile,” and their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal is called a “convert.”

From this follows the correction that can be made to these two types of vessels:

The correction for Israel, for Galgalta ve Eynaim, is “Love your neighbor as yourself” (per Rabbi Akiva), because they can reach adhesion with the Creator. “Your neighbor” is the Creator.

The correction for the nations, for AHP, is a restriction called “What is hateful to you, do not do to your friend” (per Hillel), which means restrict your evil. This is because the vessels of reception in and of themselves cannot be corrected until the end of correction.

This is precisely the difference between Rabbi Akiva and Hillel, and this is the difference in the relationship between these two corrections. In Galgalta ve Eynaim, vessels of bestowal, it is permitted to use them, and in AHP, vessels of reception, it is forbidden to use them.

From this we can understand the “holy language” as a language spoken through vessels of bestowal, Hebrew, Panim (anterior), and the “language of translation” as that which is still not the holy language, but a language through which we prepare ourselves in AHP to later reach correction so that it will be like Galgalta ve Eynaim, the Achoraim (posterior) of the holy language. Therefore, Galgalta ve Eynaim speak in the holy language, and AHP speak in the language of translation. This is also why The Book of Zohar was written in the language of translation, in the Achoraim, because it is a book that still deals with corrections.

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Question:

Answer: The desire that resides in the heart is the request. It needs no additional means to become one. I do not take my desire out of my heart, put it into an envelope, and mail it to the Creator.

The desire present in my heart is instantly received by the Creator because the Creator and I dwell together within that heart. Whether I want it or not, the Creator is present within me.

With the help of the surrounding light, I consciously, through my own free choice, gradually correct my desire so that each time it is felt more acutely, becomes more precisely directed toward the goal of life, and no longer turns aside toward the many false goals on which I do not wish to waste my life.

The surrounding light helps me direct my desire toward the right target, toward itself. The surrounding light is the source of a unique frequency, and I want my heart, like a radar, to tune in only to that transmitter, to receive only the source of those waves and no other.

There are millions of other frequencies all around me that could influence me, but I want to tune in only to this one special wave. How can this be done? By means of that same surrounding light: I want it to create within me the need for itself.
[359123]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that “Law and Ordinance” Is the Name of the Creator in the Work

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Why was the Torah given to us?

What is meant by “action”? A person’s soul consists of 613 parts, and from the very beginning, all of them exist within us in an uncorrected state. We must correct each one of them; this is called fulfilling the 613 counsels (Eitin in Aramaic).

Each time we correct one of the 613 parts of the soul, it receives the light corresponding to that particular part of the Kli. Then we are granted the 613 commandments, or deposits (Pekudin in Aramaic), which are deposits of light.

In other words, we correct the vessels and fill them with lights; we do so for all 620 parts of the soul (613 commandments plus the seven commandments of the sages). This is what is called an action. The Torah, study, and our efforts are all intended to bring a person to this action.

Afterward, we are granted the receiving of the Torah. The Creator is the all-encompassing light that fills the soul with infinity. Through this, the Kli (vessel) comes to perceive what the Creator is, because without a Kli, perception is impossible. The Torah is that very same light, which is divided within the collective soul into 613 parts or 600,000 parts, the distinction is not essential. The correction of each individual part is called a commandment.

Thus, Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one. This state reaches its complete realization at the end of correction: first, the Kli becomes aligned with the particular light filling each of its individual parts; then, upon attaining the general correction, it becomes aligned with the all-encompassing light. This is the final state expressed in the words: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”
[358577]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Question:

Answer: I do not think that this sense is strong enough to be relied on. Look at our intuition. What do we come to with all our intellect? To complete destruction.

In other words, we cannot follow intuition or even our science if we want to attain the upper world and to achieve spiritual development.

What does “spiritual” mean? It means experiencing eternity and perfection, and being filled with to be full of strength, knowledge, and potential. To be like the Creator means living in eternity and perfection. We cannot come to this by means of our intuition. Our intuition consists of sensations and conclusions that cannot even be analyzed, they are merely vague feelings.

All this is based on purely animal experience, animal drives, and on animal intellect that cannot comprehend anything beyond what lies a few meters ahead. We cannot find the spiritual path based on this.

The spiritual realm is something completely different that involves sensations unlike any we know. The sixth sense, the soul and its laws, and the reality revealed within it, have absolutely nothing to do with our intuition.

The sixth sense exists in everyone, and if a person feels an urge to develop it, sensing a Hisaron (lack or yearning) for it, then there is a specific method available to develop it.
[358841]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work? ”

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When a person begins to study [Kabbalah], he suddenly discovers every time that they see new things in what we study.

Suppose you are sitting and reading an article right now, and I am sitting and reading the article, and then you ask me: “Well, can you tell me something?”

Why do I tell you more than you know? Because I read and see a bit more deeply than you. At the same time, I cannot transmit to you what I feel, and so I tell you in other words what I see.

For you it is open to a certain depth; for me it is open much deeper, and there are those for whom nothing at all is revealed. They may read the same article, but feel no reaction in the heart because they have no spiritual Kli, while yours is already beginning to form.

So what is the difference? The difference is that when I speak to you, I give you a bit of light from the depth where I am, and this helps you. In addition to the surrounding light that you awaken during the study, I also add from myself.

But the group can also add to you. Each one understands according to a certain depth because no one here is a random person off the street. There are those who are truly in a good, sensory understanding.

Therefore, when we study together with the intention of passing the incoming light to one another, these surrounding lights from each of us unite and act upon everyone. Do you understand what kind of amplifier of spiritual power there is here?

And it does not matter if each one knows very little, some more, some less. Even if I am here, and you know less than I do, each of you has his own root of the soul. So I enjoy this. From the inclusion of one in another, I receive an addition because there are things that, without you, I will not understand, and without this one, and without that one even though you might be a “0.001 compared to my 1 followed by some zeros.” It does not matter. Every person is unique.
[358793]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity in the Work?”

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Why Is Slander Called “A Help Against Him”?

In reality there is no such thing as something that is simply “against.” Therefore, in the Torah, the word for “against” (Neged) is always written with a prefix of “as” or “like” before it, (Keneged) in the sense of “one against another” (Zeh Keneged Zeh). What does the prefix “as” or “like” imply? It means something like or as if opposite to something else. One thing actually supports the other, and in order to clarify one thing, something appears opposite it.

Sometimes it seems to us, due to lack of understanding and the absence of a comprehensive view of what is before our eyes, that there is something that contradicts and destroys. Indeed, this might appear to happen, but even the worst occurrence has the purpose of serving as a support, a foundation, for the structure and the next degree.

Whether we receive Kedusha according to our equivalence of form with it, or according to our opposition of form to it, depends only on us.
From a Talk on the Article “What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?” – Part 1 6/12/2002

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1 (8.8.2007)

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Question:

Answer: Rabash cannot use other, unfamiliar words. It is not his fault that you get confused. The entire Torah consists of the names of the Creator. The light is clothed in the Kli (vessel), and the Kli receives perceptions from it regarding what He does and what properties He has.

For example, what does it mean: “As He is merciful, so should you be merciful”? As I improve my quality of mercy, I will feel that He is also merciful. This means that I have attained knowledge, the revelation of the holy name “merciful one.”

Thus, the entire Torah is the names of the Creator. The lights clothe themselves in me and give me a sense of who the Creator is because the Creator is the totality of light, while I receive this totality of light in portions according to the measure of my correction. As a result, once I have received the entire Torah, I thus feel the Creator. In the totality of all the lights, I fully feel Him. This is the essence of the commandments, the Torah, and the Creator. And the one who reveals them is called Israel.

The only that is said: “The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.” In other words, only about this is it written in all the holy books. Holy books are those written beyond the Machsom, which means “holy,” and refers to being separated from this world.

If you read the Torah as a novel that tells you what happened between men, women, and children, who went where, who killed whom, and what was done to them for it, that is your problem. We must read the Torah as the names of the Creator.

I was asked on the Internet today: “But it says that every week you have to read a weekly chapter from the Pentateuch with RASHI’s commentary: read the weekly chapter twice, and the commentary once.” By the way, there are many more in-depth commentaries, and you can include them. They are all written by great Kabbalists.

So what should I do, read or not read? I replied that there is a strict prohibition in the Torah: “You shall not make a graven image.” That is, do not imagine something material instead of spiritual. If you are imagining a historical novel as you read a weekly chapter, do not read it.

This is the strictest prohibition in the Torah because it makes it impossible to achieve spirituality. And do not worry. By violating it, you are not doing anything wrong or harming the Creator or the world. However, at the same time, you remain the “animal” that you are today. Therefore we must treat the Torah as the true names of the Creator, and then it will lead you to the goal.

Moses wrote the Torah in this language because he could not find another language. In all other languages—Haggadah, Midrash, Halacha, Kabbalah—it is much more difficult to express all the points and details he wanted to describe. This is almost impossible in other languages. That is why he chose this language, the language in which all stories are written.

Comment: There is a contradiction here. After all, we still keep the commandments and do everything necessary.

My Response: You are on Earth in an earthly body, therefore you fulfill the commandments: you apply Tefillin, Tallit, make a blessing, eat Kosher food, etc. If you were not in the body, you would not have the opportunity to perform these actions. But these are not the actions by which you attain the holy names. You attain the holy names by correcting desire, by putting a screen on it, and by receiving light into it. The light that reveals itself in the corrected desire is called the holy name.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

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Question:

Answer: I cannot speak with you about feelings. Today you have one set of feelings, and in a year or two you will have another. To rejoice in the dark means to rejoice in the goal. Darkness is the state I am in now, but this does not mean that I cannot rejoice in what it promises me.

It may be that I am in a bad state now, but at the same time the surrounding light shines for me. And if a good future shines for me, then it already sweetens the darkness for me. This does not mean that I cease to feel it, but I feel both today’s darkness and the good results that it will bring me in the future.

Of course, we are not speaking about the darkness you are in now where you feel confused, empty, powerless, and helpless. I am speaking about a darkness in which there is an addition of the future, of the spiritual, called the light of faith, and nevertheless it is still darkness. When descending to the degree of “Shimon, from the market,” Rabbi Shimon defines for himself that now he is truly like Shimon the market merchant and the degree standing opposite this will apparently be the degree of the end of correction.

But when does he determine this? He determines this when he is on the degree of “Shimon, from the market” and not from some other state. So did he descend to this degree or not? Yes, but it is Rabbi Shimon who descended: he did not become the real Shimon from the market, but Rabbi Shimon who has clothed himself in Shimon, the market merchant. While at such a low level, he determines from his overall state what this degree must bring him.

Even before the Machsom you too will feel such states differently and no longer fear descents so much. All the states that we will have after the Machsom we in some way feel even before it, not on spiritual material, but through our material, yet in one way or another we feel them. So, you will feel it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Question:

Answer: You cannot take anything directly from him. You can only perceive the external side of his work, the way he thinks and acts. For example, you see that he is constantly writing—so why aren’t you writing? He is always taking notes, and then, apparently, he continues working on something at home. Perhaps that is not even all he does. So, find out what he is engaged in, but do it without his knowing.

Look only at what is good, and close your eyes to what is bad. Why spoil everything for yourself? You should be taking something good from your friend so that you will have fuel. Therefore, look at him from his good side.

Let’s say you weigh 50 kilograms. If you weighed as much as he does, you would probably sleep twice as much. Yet somehow, he finds the strength to sleep less. So give him credit for that. Look at how heavy he is, and yet he still makes the effort, like a diligent little bear.

When you look at your friend, pay attention to all sorts of small details and draw benefit from them. This is what it means to judge your friend favorably. The Torah presents, not prohibitions, but advice for your personal advancement, for your own benefit. No one needs what you do or do not do. It is entirely about you, about your own personal correction. All the prohibitions and all the advice are directed solely toward making things better for you.

Judge your friend favorably. In any case, you will not harm him. Otherwise, you simply will not receive from him the help and the additional strength that you could have gained. The entire loss will be yours.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Question:

Answer: The point is that “uttering with the lips,” speaking out loud, does not mean that you just open your mouth and speak. “Uttering with the lips” means performing various external actions that help you change your heart.

Suppose I go to listen to a lesson or to receive an impression from my friends, because the Creator created the human being by placing him in an environment so that the environment would influence him. And now I choose the best environment, more directed toward the goal.

When I am in an environment, I must push it to help it to be more precisely aimed at the goal, because the environment is essentially the only source that can influence me and change the desires in my heart. This is what it means to say a prayer with the lips. “Lips” or “mouth” (Peh) refers to the place of the screen (Masach), where I can, in a sense, make independent decisions.

Will I just open my mouth for n reason? Everyone lies and talks. A person has absolutely no idea what his “heart” is, what his “lips” are, and what the difference between them is.

We have only one action at our disposal through which we can change the desire in the heart. It is to purposefully listen to the influence of the environment while filtering out everything unnecessary. To do this I must plug my ears and open them only in the right place and for the right words, and isolate myself from everything else.

This is how I must act before the start of the lessons. Now let us clarify what happens during the lessons. Can I keep my thoughts and my heart focused toward spirituality during this time? As it is said: turn your mind and your heart toward the Torah to be rewarded with drawing the light contained in the Torah that returns to the source. This means that during the study I must constantly feel the need for the light to come and correct me with the intention to bestow.

And what actually happens? After the first word I read, I forget why I am studying and become completely absorbed in the reading and want to get to the bottom of the text’s meaning. I engage my intellect and seek to connect what I want from life with what I am studying.

And here I must listen to the group, to my friends. One can also suggest to oneself that such “brainwashing” also works, but the main thing is to hear from the environment that everything written in the book is talking about me, and that all the actions described in the book are what my soul goes through.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

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Why Is There No Forceful Means Against Slander?

There is indeed a forceful means against slander. It is possible to simply not listen. We cannot destroy slander, because we have insufficient strength to do so, since slander speaks from within nature. We can only ask the Creator to change our nature, and thus replace slander with speaking well of others. A person individually would never be able to do this on their own.

It is impossible to subdue slander in any other way, because it cannot be confronted on the human level, because on that level it is always right. On the surface it indeed appears as though we can attain money, honor, knowledge, security, and health through various accepted means. Moreover, when people try to attain these through conventional pathways, they see that it is impossible to solve problems through the intellect. Therefore, the intellect cannot solve anything, but we must reach this realization by ourselves through scrutiny.

With what do we make such a scrutiny? Precisely with this slander, but on condition that we channel it for our benefit. Then we see that its existence is meant to help us recognize the evil. In other words, slander must be under our control, and then we realize that slander is “a help against Him,” which is very good.

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