Question:

Answer: You begin to look at yourself as a created being. Before this, you cannot do such a thing. You acquire some measure of perfection and eternity relative to that which is not in the creation. I do not know how to say it. There are no words.

Question: What is the difference in the approaches or measurements of these categories?

Answer: The difference is that then you receive an enduring, eternal frame of reference. You exit the framework of time. Lack is no longer felt in you. You do not feel the limitations of time, place, fulfillment. All the limitations of the Kli disappear. This is a different way of thinking, beyond the boundaries of time, motion, and place. Rabash explains this with the concepts of “world,” “year,” “soul,” that is, place, time, motion.

But what do I want to say? Despite the fact that you, as it were, exit and look at yourself from the Creator’s side, you still do not exit from your own Kli. And this sensation is within your Kli.

So what does it mean “to look from the Creator’s perspective”? You never leave your Kli. You have simply acquired His properties inside the desire to receive, and from these properties of His you look at the rest, as yet uncorrected part of the desire to receive. Then, as it were, within your Kli a part of the Creator and a part of the creation exist. But never actually step out of our Kli.

That is, everything is within the desire to receive: both the sensation of the Creator and the thoughts of the Creator, insofar as we perceive them.
[361244]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
A Look At Life Through The Creator’s Eyes
From Perfection To Perfection
On The Other Side Of Perception

Question:

Answer: How can a person, by means of the picture he presents to himself in the right line, withstand the left line?

Therefore, we do not stand before the Creator as one person; rather, we have an environment that can pull us either to the left or to the right. It is said that one who constantly chooses the better environment—that is, one that would be “on the right side”—by his free choice shortens the path.

Two weeks ago I returned from North America. If you ask me whether I was there at all and what I did there, I already do not remember. So much has happened since then. Every day is so saturated: before the holidays, after the holidays… Do you see what a contraction of time is occurring for us?

For a person from outside, everything is completely different. For him, several years pass almost identically. But for us, the contraction of time is not simply a mechanical compression, but a contraction of spiritual time, the time of development.

People do not understand this. Some sit here for five years and think that they have gained nothing from it. They do not know that during this time they may have passed through seven or eight cycles. I speak without exaggeration. We simply do not feel what is happening to us. In fact, the correct clarification is what will help me build something that will pull me from the left line into the right line.

In fact, I am constantly in the left line; I dwell in passions, desires, and various thoughts. Everything belongs to the left line. How can I build such a magnet on the right side so that it is always stronger than the attraction from the left pulls me, and I would be given something even greater in the left line so that I constantly jump back and forth? It is precisely the frequency of these transitions that determines advancement.

There is a story: A student tells his rav that before prayer he had a fall. And the rav answers him that within ten minutes he had four hundred such falls. Do you understand at what tempo a person works? How many states he passes through and analyzes? But for some this happens once in several generations or once in several years. There is such a slow swinging back and forth.

And even for us there are periods when suddenly you feel that for two or three months you are as if dead; nothing changes. It is as if you are traveling somewhere, but along the way nothing happens.

When I came to Rabash, I was very nervous compared to what I am now. I asked him questions similar to yours, but not so gently. So, he told me: “On our path, enormous patience is necessary, and I hope that you will endure it.”

I thought: How will I endure it if even more patience is needed? For I am already exploding, practically foaming at the ears. This is impossible to describe. Rationally, it is impossible to imagine how this can be endured. Patience is necessary. But this too is given from above.
[361247]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
Bestowal—A Means to Pleasure
Raise the Environment in Your Eyes
Work Together With Your Environment Like A Sophisticated Device

Question:

Answer: Indeed. But I live between my wife, children, and my group. This is not a normal life either. I cannot be an example. Especially given my natural characteristics.

But divorce, I have never even considered it. I never thought that I could get divorced and leave my wife and children. No. I bought an apartment, transferred it to my wife. It is only in my wife’s name, not in mine. I have nothing at all! Seriously.

I took care of the children so that everyone was provided for, got an education, a home, and everything else. Getting married is a must! So I would be able to do my work in peace. That is all; the most important things.

If you have children, you must take care of them. Children are the most important.

Question: Is divorce a disaster? The child feels that he does not have a father or a mother.

Answer: The child suffers from the absence of either parent! Mom or dad. Of course, mother’s absence is worse. But still, so is the father’s. It leaves its mark. This is not forgiven!

Children consider their father’s departure from them as a betrayal, as a divorce from them. And they do not forget that. They cannot. That is, they feel that Dad has left ME. And this, of course, is very difficult.

Question: What if the love is gone?

Answer: What love?

Comment: They say: “Love is gone.” That is how people justify themselves.

My Response: Where did it go? I do not understand that word. I only know one thing: if people live together, if they are normal people, if they are more or less understanding and well-mannered, they can create conditions where they are comfortable together. Not great, they are not happy, but they are comfortable together.

Question: So, they form an alliance of convenience?

Answer: Of course! And what is marriage in the first place? Joint household! When you believe you can support each other, help each other, and are satisfied with that. That is first of all. And everything else, if you mean sex, it changes for a person every few years in other directions.

After all, we all live five times longer today than people did 200 years ago. Not to mention 1,000 years ago.
[359896]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 7/27/26

Related Material:
How To Save A Marriage
Health, Not Wealth, Makes Us Happy
A Bad Marriage Is Better Than A Good Divorce

Question:

Answer: The Creator indeed teaches me through suffering. How? He does not allow me to enjoy the delicacies lying on the table. And I want to flee from the sufferings; I do not want to feel hunger. The table itself is no longer important to me; I no longer chase after the enjoyment itself; it is as if I gave up hope ever obtaining it. My goal is to find peace, not through pleasures, and it does not matter that I will have no desire for them.

We act this way instinctively. “A simple person does not desire the king’s daughter.” Why should he suffer? He knows he will never obtain her. Then I, as it were, reduce my Hisaron; I do not even want to think about this.

But I am not allowed to do this. All my egoism, my inner desires, constantly develop and still lead me to suffering. I am not able to completely silence myself or find peace. And so I come to a state where I seek only one thing: how to avoid suffering?

The question of how to avoid suffering” transforms into a question about the meaning of life, which ultimately leads me to search for a solution. “Is there any way to find peace?” But how? “Taste and see how good the Creator is.” And that is all.

Let go of all that you think about pleasure, for there is another source from which you will be filled and will enjoy.

What is this? The Creator. And who is this? I do not know. Seek Him! This is the only solution in order to cease suffering.

You will never receive what lies on the table. You will see the host; you will see how good He is, that He thinks of you, and all this will fill you. The Creator reveals Himself as fulfillment instead of natural fulfillment.
[361402]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
Take a Step Forward
Escape Suffering Or Exalt Spirituality?
Dissolve Our Egoism

Question:

Answer: The issue is not which is stronger. You are saying that in our world there is a contradiction between desires. In spirituality it is different, because until a person has made a restriction on their vessels of reception, they cannot move on to working for the sake of bestowal.

What does it mean to make a restriction on the desire to receive? You cannot make a restriction by simply locking your heart with an enormous lock, throwing away the key, and never receiving again.

But spirituality is a matter of feeling. If you have a desire to receive, you need to correct it so that it remains under restriction and does not want to receive despite the fact that it does want to. Then this is called having made a restriction.

So by what trick, by what means, were you able to restrict it? What did you give it in return? It is not like in the corporeal world where you want to swallow something but restrain yourself. In spirituality there is no such separation. There, if I want, it means that I receive. There is no separate vessel of action and vessel of sensation where I am divided between my desire and my body that performs actions with my hands and feet.

So how can I find a solution for my desire to receive? What can I fill it with so that it can be said that it remains under a restriction? I have to give it some fulfillment called Hassadim. And beyond this fulfillment, I begin to acquire such degrees of bestowal that I can even reach receiving in order to bestow, something that is still completely incomprehensible to us.

I build between the Kelim that are completely separated from one another, such a connection that I can even receive in order to bestow. This is what is known as the levels of love.
[361108]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/26, Rabash, “When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator”

Related Material:
Restriction On Egoistic Desires
Restriction And The Screen
Through Restriction To Infinity

If we look a little deeper in, and thoroughly examine those who observe Torah and Mitzvot, whether they want to be given vessels of bestowal and to give in return the will to receive, the vast majority of the workers will say that they pass on this. Instead, they want to observe Torah and Mitzvot in order to receive. It follows that they have no need for vessels of bestowal. For this reason, how can they say that the Torah and Mitzvot they labor in should give them a reward for which they have no need? On the contrary, they are afraid lest they will lose the vessel of reception called “self-love” (Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”).

Rabash writes that there are people who observe the Torah and commandments as though they were “perfect” and “righteous.” Nevertheless, their practical observance says nothing about their intention, and they do not understand at all what the Creator requires of them.

Most people in the world observe the Torah and commandments only in order to receive a reward in this world or in the future world. The exception is those who wish to acquire the intention for the sake of bestowal, the screen, something that is completely impossible to achieve except through the wisdom of Kabbalah. Working for the sake of the Creator is precisely what the wisdom of Kabbalah is about. It means becoming similar to Him.

I in no way reject the observance of the Torah and commandments by those who observe them mechanically. This is called the initial, minimal degree, the spiritually inanimate level; it is where people have been taught to observe the commandments practically, but have not been taught about the intention, because their teachers do not know what it is.

The intention is the screen and reflected light, which can be acquired only after many years of great effort, while being under the influence of the surrounding light that comes to a person through studying the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We are speaking about two levels: the level of the masses, which is called the path of the ordinary person, and the path of Torah, the path of the influence of the surrounding light, through which a person acquires a screen. The first is one thing and the second is another. But for me there is no contradiction between them, nor do I oppose this. I reject nothing, there is simply Torah for those who are not yet spiritually developed and Torah for those who are already spiritually developed.

I lived in Rehovot and began searching and making efforts, as though I had returned to religion. I was looking for something internal and saw that there was nothing there. I began demanding more from those who had brought me back to religion and continued searching.

Among them was Rabbi Fischer from Holland, who told the others, “Leave him alone. There are people who need something more internal. Help him.” That is how I came to Rabbi Zilberman from Jerusalem. He quickly understood that I was one of those who needed something more. But even what I received in Jerusalem was not enough for me, so I continued searching until I found Rabash.

There are such people and there are others. You cannot say anything more than that.
[360184]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/26, Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”

Related Material:
When Actions Become Commandments
Four Types of Motivation for Performing Torah and Mitzvot
On the Still Level of Kedusha

What Should We Do When Other Thoughts Arise During the Study?

We can sit in a lesson, our body seated in a chair, while traveling around the world in our mind, completely absent from the lesson. It is written that a person is where his thoughts are, but that is not the point here. If we are truly engaged in the study, yet we ruminate over some issue, that is an incorrect thought. If we think about various matters related to our activities in the group, those too are incorrect thoughts that distract us from the study. During the study, we should feel ourselves united with the entire group in connection with the Creator through the study material. This is all we should yearn for.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 233
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 232
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 231

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 31 “One Does Not Regard Oneself as Wicked (1985) (7.28.2002)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Question:

Answer: A person’s choice is not in calculating something and choosing between various options; rather, it lies in constantly forcing oneself to continue the spiritual work. Nothing more. You do not choose the path. You choose where to get more strength for the effort, in order to push yourself a little more, to advance just a little further. Choice is in accelerating time.

What path could you possibly choose? Do you understand anything about the corrections? Do you know what your next state is or what your present state is? How do you move from one to the other? What will come of it? Of course, we are not the ones who do this. If we try to proceed based solely on our own understanding, it is simply foolishness.

Yesterday I met a professor (a very intelligent, insightful person, a specialist in his field, and a senior executive and project manager in a large company. He kept saying, “I have to see, I have to understand…” This is very difficult to grasp. In general, theoretically, we might be able to see something, but regarding oneself, one’s next state, a person never sees anything in advance. After all, the most difficult thing is the recognition of one’s own evil.

We can only apply pressure in order to advance and catch a glimpse of the past. Truly seeing the present is impossible right now. Only after crossing  the Machsom can one see the degree that has been passed. But as long as we have not crossed the Machsom, we have not yet passed even the first degree. After all, everything we are going through now is merely a single degree of our world.
[361354]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
Increase the Speed of Advancement
How Can You Avoid Wasting Time?
How Should We Spend Our Time?

Comment:

My Response: Even before crossing the Machsom, a person stops thinking about and looking at their past. There is no past. One who constantly looks back becomes like Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt, into something that does not spoil. Salt itself cannot be used as food, only as an additive.

Why, then, do we need to justify everything that happened? Is it so that a person sees that he went through all of this in order to gather Kelim and inner definitions for the present? No one sits like an old man reminiscing about his past at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

If we continue, we will soon become convinced that the past in itself is absolutely unimportant and may be needed only for the present. You will not think about the past or regret something that you once did or did not do.

Such an attitude will disappear because it is incorrect. This is not you at all. You do not need to cross the Machsom for this, because the realization that one should not look back occurs long before it.
[361374]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
It Is Pointless To Regret What Was Swallowed In Ein Sof
There Is Nothing Worse Than Regretting The Past
It Wasn’t Me!

A person’s Kli is defined as something from nothing and as a Lev HaEven (heart of stone).

But if I make a restriction in my “self,” and this means that I don’t need anything beyond what is essential (and the essential is zero), and I start working for the common good by uniting with other souls, then I will be able to receive the light. Then their stony hearts will no longer be hearts of stone for me, because I nullify myself before them, and they turn into the Tet Rishonot (the first nine Sefirot) for me, into which I receive the light.

When I incorporate their Hisaron (needs), the desires of all other souls, to myself, they transform into my Kli for receiving the light. My own original Kli remains unfit for receiving the light until the end of correction.

What is the end of correction? It is when, by incorporating the 599,999 “stony hearts” that belong to other souls, by correcting the connection with them and nullifying myself (an act known as “love your neighbor as yourself”), I attain the revelation of the Creator. This state is described as being “above myself,” “above my desire to receive.”

It follows that unity with other souls is a means to achieve adhesion with the Creator.
[359705]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 7/20/26, Rabash, Article 27, 1986 “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
Criticism and Self-Criticism
Mutual Relations
Create a Common Kli

When a person realizes that they have no intention to bestow and that the Creator cannot unite with them, they begin to understand that they must correct themselves.

Then it is gradually revealed that the Creator initially prepared everything precisely in this way so that the very act of turning to Him initiates a connection with Him. This unification is the goal.

In other words, the more our state feels opposite to holiness and distant from it, the more worthy it is of connection, adhesion, and attainment of the goal.

The entire path is divided into many degrees because we are unable to immediately grasp the magnitude of the gap between us and infinity. We cannot bridge this chasm at once. Even when the desire to receive is first revealed to us at any given level, it seems to us like a “Final Sea” that cannot be crossed. Yet, gradually we begin to see that this is normal and that it is possible to somehow overcome it.

How does this become possible? In spirituality, there are no habits; there are only inner determinations, forces, and the interplay of forces. So, what does “possible” mean? It simply means that the surrounding light shines upon us from afar and creates the sensation that there are forces and fulfillments capable of bridging this gap between degrees.

Some people, upon sensing this chasm, run away, others persevere, and through the study and persistence, come to see that it is not so daunting after all
[361259]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,” in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Fiery Arc Between Degrees
What do You Understand?
The Donkey Driver

Question:

Answer: The difference is the following. The Creator created only one Kli (vessel), a desire to receive. He did not create different Kelim for this world and “that” world. No, there is only one Kli. What changes is only how you feel yourself within this Kli.

If you feel yourself as you do now, it means that you are at some degree of this world, since this world also contains a certain sequence of degrees. If you come to spiritual states, you will still feel this world, but in addition to it, you will also feel the spiritual world.

What is the difference? The center of pleasure remains the same. Now you can experience several strictly defined types of pleasure. And when you enter the spiritual world, you will likewise receive impressions from certain types of pleasure, both spiritual and corporeal. These are different garments of the same source.

It is precisely the corporeal garments that clothe themselves over the light that make our world appear to be illusory, or imaginary. What does “imaginary” mean? The pleasure found in this world is not imaginary.

What is imaginary are the garments, because it seems to us that we receive pleasure from the garment itself, rather than from the light within it. This is what is called an illusion or imagination. It seems to me that I enjoy, for example, looking at your beautiful face. But this is not so: in reality, there is some spark of the Creator within you. It is this spark that I enjoy, and not your beautiful external appearance.

In other words, the problem lies only within me. If I connect the pleasure with the spark that is within you, everything is in order. In that case, I am connected with the spiritual. But if I connect the pleasure with your beautiful face, then I am connected with the animalistic garment, with the corporeal world, and this is called the imaginary or illusory state.

“Imaginary,” “illusory” means an error in identifying the source of pleasure. In other words, there is nothing actually imaginary, it is simply what we call a spiritual “error,” when I mistakenly identify the source of pleasure.

This does not mean that this world disappears when one attains the spiritual. Does a Kabbalist who perceives the spiritual world cease to feel this world? He lives in it! The five senses remain. And believe me, Kabbalists experience very clearly through these senses: they eat, drink, and so on. Nothing disappears.

But through all this, the Kabbalist connects himself with the source of all pleasures, which exists only in the Creator, and all these intermediate garments no longer hinder him or mislead him. One can say that they no longer occupy the Kabbalist’s attention, he sees through them.
[359981]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Convert Material Pleasures into Spiritual Ones
What Do We Receive From The Creator?
What Is Spiritual Fulfillment?

What Determines Whether We Are in an Ascent or a Descent?

A descent and an ascent are determined by the person, according to either the state we are in or our attitude toward that state. For example, we forget that we are sitting in a lesson and start daydreaming about the card game we played yesterday with our friends. We drank beer, felt good, and had an enjoyable time. The time we are dreaming about is called an “ascent” for us. We felt good. Suddenly we wake up and notice what we are thinking about and where we are now, what we are immersed in, and then we begin to feel that this is a descent.

In other words, ascents and descents can be evaluated solely according to equivalence with the surrounding light, and only due to that equivalence with the light. A true discernment of the place we are in can be made only in relation to the light.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 232
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 231
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 230

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 19 “You Stand Today, All of You” (1984)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

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

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

The period from the beginning of the year (Rosh Hashanah) until the Day of Judgment (Yom Kippur) is called the Days of Awe.

Therefore everything depends on what a person lives by. If he lives in the past, as many do because they know nothing about the future, then these are Days of Awe for him. But the science of Kabbalah, which is entirely directed toward the future, speaks of these days as the most beautiful and kind. The New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is the beginning of good changes.

The period of repentance preceding the beginning of the new year is needed for awareness of our evil nature, which we must correct. The most suitable time for correction arrives, thanks to which we come to goodness.

After Rosh Hashanah comes the Day of Judgment, Yom Kippur, when a person judges himself, and clarifies how he can attain the degree of the Creator—the state of the upper force beyond which nothing better exists. He examines what must be corrected in order to attain this corrected and exalted state.

As a result, the holiday of Sukkot arrives. After all the clarifications and the request for correction, we begin to build the soul. The Sukkah symbolizes the common soul of Adam HaRishon, which we are all parts of.

If we gather together under the roof of the Sukkah, beneath one covering, and cover all transgressions with love, then we reveal the “Joy of the Torah” (Simchat Torah). We unite so completely that the upper light, called Torah, fills us and brings us to correction.

These days are called the Days of Awe, but their awesomeness derives from their greatness. As it is said about the Creator, He is “great and awesome,” not because of a threat, but because of reverence before His exaltedness.

Before Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to wish one another a good year and a good inscription in the Book of Life. But most importantly, we need to understand that if we unite, and cover all transgressions with love, then this year will truly be good for us.

And this connection must be achieved not once a year before the holiday, but daily—by coming closer to one another in spirit day by day, until we feel such closeness of heart that we have become like one person with one heart.

Then we will feel the upper force, the common nature that fills our common heart. That will truly be a happy new year.
[253278]
From KabTV’s “World, Jewish holidays”

Related Material:
Rosh HaShanah—First Station on the Way to Correction
Holidays From The Perspective Of Kabbalah
Why Do We Eat The Head Of Fish On Rosh Hashanah?

Question:

Answer: We learn that there is nothing beside lights (Orot) and vessels (Kelim). The reward in this world is the correction of the Kelim, while in the future world it is that I prepare them for the fulfillment that comes after the Machsom (barrier).

It is written: “I shall be filled with the reward of a commandment during my lifetime.” What does this mean? There are three kinds of reward: reward received immediately, on the spot; reward received while passing through the spiritual degrees; and reward received after the final correction. Everything depends on which kind of reward we are talking about.

The true reward is received in the true Kli, the desire to receive, that is, in the “stony heart” (Lev HaEven), which will be corrected only at the end of correction.

In our world, the reward means reaching a state in which the desire “does not let me sleep,” when I become “sick with love.” At this point, we are not yet talking about the desire for Lishma (for the sake of the Creator), but about the greatest Lo Lishma (for one’s own sake), through which I leap across the Machsom to the smallest degree of Lishma.

After the Machsom, the first spiritual degree is itself called “reward and punishment”: a person examines his Kli according to his sensation, and every action performed with the intention to bestow brings him an immediate result called reward. At present, we still cannot say that this is the case for us.

Thus, each time, reward and punishment change according to a person’s understanding. In reality, he always receives reward, but sometimes it is perceived by him as punishment, while at other times it is genuinely perceived as reward. But who knows in which case the perception is correct, and in which it is not? It is changeable. For us, in our present state, before the Machsom, we simply need to believe that everything we receive is a reward.

Indeed, if a person studies and structures their day so that everything they do is directed at drawing closer to the goal of creation, then everything they encounter along the way benefits their progress toward that goal. They already develop a personal relationship with the Creator, rather than the general relationship like that of the rest of humanity.

What is the difference? Humanity receives everything in a collective form: at the level of an entire nation, certain groups, or the masses. It is not an individual, specific person; rather, masses of people rise and fall together, and one can see how they are collectively influenced or brought down as a result of something. For us, however, this emerges from the general level of the masses and becomes personal. This refers to impressions, descents and ascents, and the nature of the relationship.

To the extent that these relationships are directed toward the Creator, they move beyond the scope of general governance and come under the domain of private providence, a personal relationship with the Creator. Consequently, both the person’s ascents and descents are directed toward advancing them toward the goal. Based on this, they should feel that everything happening to them is correct, regardless of their current state.
[359928]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Payment Here And Now
Reward And Punishment In Our Lives, Part 1
Unseen Reward

In the article “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?” again and again, Rabash emphasizes that as a person advances spirituality, concealment increases.

We know it from the story of the Egypt exile and the exodus. “And the people of Israel sighed from the work,” and then they stood before Pharaoh and went through the ten plagues, the ten blows, until they were rewarded with the exit from Egypt.

All these things tell us that concealment grows and obstacles multiply. We need a lot of patience to perceive these things as the correct result of our efforts. We know from our nature that the more we invest, the more we receive.  Yet here, because we must emerge from the desire to receive, the more effort we exert, the sense of emptiness within that desire must grow so that we may eventually rid ourselves of it.

Hence, according to one’s intellect, one can somehow understand, and maybe even sometimes justify this path, this process of spiritual development in a person that bears no resemblance to what we are used to in this world. To closer a person draws to spirituality, the more they see themselves as further from spirituality.

The more energy they invest, the more they see themselves losing. Consequently they feel drained of strength.  It goes against my nature: how can I exert effort only to receive in the end?  More effort and another blow? Who would ever want to work at all if the only result is a series of blows?

Eventually a person falls into despair and does not know what to do. Based on what they read and according to what they hear, they may somewhat agree with this process with their mind, that it is likely the way to break free from the desire to receive and reach the second nature. But what do we do?

It is stated beautifully and correctly, but is it actually feasible?  What is a person situated with the desire to receive supposed to do?

In truth, there is nothing for a person to do except acknowledge the greatness of the Creator. A person is incapable of doing this on their own, human nature possesses no such strength. A person can only be helped by the group by hearing how great the Creator is, that everything depends on Him, that this is His will, and that He is capable. This refers to the environment—the group, the Rav, and the books—everything surrounding a person. A person’s internal forces are incapable of achieving anything.

“And the children of Israel sighed from the work.” Here one needs to come to a state where truly it is “I and not a messenger.” Meaning, one needs to turn directly to the Creator and cry out and sigh. But it is not in a person’s strength to be able to do it by oneself, unless one is a virtuous one that is helped from above or is fortunate enough to find strength among the friends, in the group, the books, and the Rav.

Only then do they truly turn correctly to the Creator knowing that they have done everything possible and they realize their own powerlessness. They reach a state of despair. It is only through this despair that one fully surrenders oneself to the Creator’s will and allows the Creator to do whatever He pleases. Until a person clarifies exactly what the Creator demands and what He wants, a person cannot cross the Machsom (barrier).

The essence of our choice lies in shortening the path while we are in darkness and exile, a state where the further we advance, the more empty we feel. Rabash writes that during the Egyptian exile, a person might fill the Kli (vessel), but the vessel is riddled with holes and all the contents leak out. A person fills it again and once again the vessel is emptied once more.

A person exerts efforts, yet receives nothing from this labor. When realizes they no longer have any strength to do anything with this vessel, the only option remaining is to turn to the Creator to have it corrected.

How are the holes in a perforated vessel sealed? By means of a screen used for the sake of bestowal. Then the vessel becomes whole and complete. In other words, a “colander” turns into a “ladle.”
[359765]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
Support on the Spiritual Path
Disappointment or a Breakthrough?
In The Labyrinth

We are at a point that is absolutely opposite to the purpose of creation, and there is no more terrible and distant place from the Creator.

Nevertheless, our work begins with the recognition of the evil of our present state. When a person begins this work, it does not matter whether he received a religious or secular upbringing, whether he is intelligent or not; it does not matter how developed he is intellectually, emotionally, or sensitively.

After some time, the surrounding light begins to work on him, and he begins to feel his state in relation to this light, meaning his desire to receive, which is opposite to the light in every quality.

Then the person begins to experience a feeling of being divided. On one hand, he already somewhat feels the divine, not yet in itself but through the surrounding illumination. On the other hand, he sees how opposite he is to spirituality. And this is despite the fact that his conception of spirituality is very far from what it actually is. And what it actually is is billions of times greater than anything one can imagine!

Nevertheless, he feels something of spirituality, while at the same time he sees himself as opposite even to the most minimal conception of spirituality. And each time, the gap between the sensation of spirituality and him grows.

A person perceives everything solely based on his sensations. We can say that we are sensing beings, while our brain is intended only for the “decoding” of sensations. It was created in order to make the best possible use of sensations and to fulfill the desire to receive.

The desire to receive is the creation, while the brain is an auxiliary system for fulfilling this desire. Therefore, when a person feels bad, the intellect can practically do nothing to help him emerge from this state. Of course, he should tell himself that “my bad feeling is connected to the fact that I am now seeing the true picture, which I did not see before.” But all these wise thoughts do not really have much effect on us, because the feeling rules over us.

We need to accumulate a great deal of experience so as not to react emotionally to descents, not to relate to them based on our feelings, but to accept them in a useful form and work with them, understanding that the more a person advances toward becoming a servant of the Creator, the more evil he sees in himself, and the weaker and worse he feels.
[359918]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Inner Duality
The Process of Internal Scrutinies
From an Unconscious State to Conscious

Question:

Answer: I can annul myself before a friend only if I understand that I have no other choice but to be connected with him. If I am in a commando unit where we really depend on each other and I understand that connecting with others is a matter of life and death, then I have no problem annulling before them.

There have been several times when my life depended on other people, and I annulled before them and felt joy in doing so. For example, in a hospital, a man comes to me and says that he will give me anesthesia, cut up my body, do something to it, “fix” it, and then I will be healthy. By doing so, he will save my life. I would kiss his hands and pay him money if only he would.

I want to be this man’s friend, because he brings me back to life. That is, my ego works in the opposite way; it drives me to build a friendly relationship with him. My egoism looks for a way to do something good for this person if only he would save me.

I have had other similar experiences. I learn from them. Or, for example, you see an employee you depend on. Naturally, you want to be his friend. Or my daughter comes to me to ask for money. At this moment, I am her friend. She does not need me afterward.

And that is correct; this is normal egoism. I have to depend on someone. I need an inner awareness, a feeling that “without him, I will not achieve it, I will not make it.” This is hard.

Comment: But if you see this is a mistake…

My Response: The importance of the goal obliges me to annul before a friend. It matters more than my ego or my personal life, and I cannot just stay at home. For me, the most important thing is to reach the goal. Therefore, I annul myself, as in that simple example with the doctor.
[359914]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/26, Rabash, “What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work”

Related Material:
Friends Are an Integral Force
Until the Complete Dilution of “Me”
How to Nullify Yourself before the Friends?

We are at the lowest rung of the chain: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut.

But this was simply impossible in their Kelim due to the inverse ratio of lights and vessels. What is happening now is a miracle. In those days, everyone felt like Kabbalists: the generation of Moses, the generation of the desert, the generation of the conquest of the Land of Israel, all the way to King David, to the Second Temple. The fall begins with the destruction of the Second Temple.

But still, there were Prophets, everything was alive, Godliness was tangible to people at the level of sensations. There was no need to write any books. With their feelings, they understood what they needed.

Books began to be written only during the exile because a connection existed between those who were still in Divine attainment and those who had already entered into exile, into concealment. Before then, there was no need to write anything.

To whom would you describe what you feel and know when everyone around you feels and knows the same thing? As Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: “Since the destruction of the Second Temple, an iron wall has formed between us and Kabbalah,” that is, between us and the revelation, the sensation of the Creator. Such a wall appeared where we do not feel anything; this is the source of all the problems.

We want to live well. For this, Divinity must be revealed to us! You will feel evil until the Creator is revealed in your Kelim. There are no other conditions! Baal HaSulam also writes in Shamati that the only cause of feeling good is the sensation of the Creator, and that the concealment of the Creator is the cause of all evil. Therefore, the only thing we are doing is looking for a way to reveal the Creator.

We want to live well. But at the same time, either we want a good life for ourselves, or we want to feel good about the purpose of creation. It all depends on the type of Kelim. Good above the screen and good below the screen have two completely different definitions.

Being below the screen, we are not allowed to tune in to what is above it. That is impossible! Therefore, the children of Israel fled Egypt in a hurry, in the dark, taking the vessels of others with them.
[359878]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?”

Related Material:
Relying On The Merits Of Our Predecessors
The Forefathers: Then And Now
The Time Of Grandsons Is Here

Chapter 21. Understanding the States

There is work during an ascent, and there is work during a descent, and we should try to find which of these two states is closer to us. However, our primary obligation is to work during the ascent, because during the descent there is no one to hold accountable, as at times we are in a state of not hearing and are unable to move ourselves. Sometimes this is not only inwardly, but outwardly as well.

However, during an ascent, when we experience upliftment, we should not become immersed in the pleasure of the good we are experiencing and think that we are in a perfect state. We need to understand that the perfect state was given to us from above not because we deserve it as a reward for our efforts, but instead that the ascent is given to us from above just as the descent is, all in order to advance us.

There is no reward and punishment. We do not receive a reward in the form of a good feeling because we previously suffered. This is an incorrect approach to the process we undergo in spiritual work.

The state of descent is given to us so that we can feel our own qualities, and the state of ascent is given to us so that we can feel the Creator’s qualities. In both of these states, when feeling our own qualities during a descent and the Creator’s qualities during an ascent, we need to work and derive benefit from them for advancement. If we pass through these states without deriving benefit from them, i.e., without using them to advance to the purpose of creation, they were in vain. We are given ascents and descents once or twice, and afterward they stop, and the ascents and descents come only once every six months or a year, and thus the years pass without any real progress.

Everything depends on our attitude to every state we are in, whether it is an attitude connected to the goal, or whether we think of the state we received as reward and punishment. All states are neither reward nor punishment, but simply states for work. During an ascent, we are given a special illumination from above, and then we feel perfection and call it an “ascent.” This perfection is given to us from above. We did not earn it ourselves. It is given to us so that we will clearly feel the Creator’s qualities, so that we will feel a little of what spirituality is, and as a result will delve into the Torah, into our studies, into the articles, the letters, all the material in which previously we understood nothing.

Now we will delve into it, understand it, and take something from it for ourselves, so that we can use it quickly and effectively, absorb as much knowledge, feeling, and discernment as possible, and aspire to extract from the state of ascent, from the closeness we received from the Creator, the maximum benefit for our advancement. Then, when we are brought down, we will understand that we have received a state opposite to the ascent. We will understand that now we are being given distance from the Creator, so that we can feel what we are without the surrounding light shining upon us. Although the surrounding light continues to shine so that we can discern that we do not understand, do not feel, are in darkness, distance, and a state of falling. This is the illumination of the surrounding lights, but in the posterior form.

Even in a state of descent, we need to work, to make an effort according to our ability not to sink into it. We should not study our vessels, as there is nothing to learn there. Vessels can be studied only through their collision with the lights. We should try as much as possible to emerge from the state of descent, performing various actions. If we cannot study and cannot live within ourselves, we should at least activate our body, in the group, by participating in various activities that serve the group such as working in the kitchen, and so on.

Those physical actions, although we activate our hands and feet and not our head and heart, which we cannot activate, are considered spiritual actions performed in spiritual vessels, because they are the greatest spiritual expression we are capable of making. Even physical, mechanical actions, without any intention, without mind or heart, will be considered as though we performed spiritual actions. Through this we will understand into which of our qualities we fall during a descent.

These are the two states that we need to undergo. Also, after the time of descent passes and the light prevails, we should not think that this state came as a result of our work, because we overcame and acted and have now arrived somewhere. Instead, we should understand that now another state is being given to us from above, one in which we must work, and perhaps it is called an ascent. We are still not certain what an ascent and a descent truly are.

We should calculate descent and ascent not according to closeness or distance as determined for us by the awakening from above, but according to the degree by which we yearn to draw closer or farther away through the awakening from below. It is possible that we might be in a state of descent and still yearn for the Creator more than when we are in a state of ascent. If so, then for us a time of descent is actually a time of ascent.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 231
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 230
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 229

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “Memorial Day for Rav Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (Rabash)” (10.3.2019)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot” Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 2 (11.19.2007)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

A Kli (vessel) is not simply a desire to enjoy into which fulfillment flows; rather, it is our attitude toward the Creator.

I always depict the desire to receive as a vessel filled with light. Above it I draw a screen, and above the screen another vessel. This upper vessel is precisely the Kli we are building. Without it, there is nothing for us to speak about.

To the extent that you, according to your level of development, do not desire to build this Kli, you suffer. These forces will compel you all the same to build a screen and reflected light. It cannot be that a screen appears in you if you yourself do not want it and do not build it.

On one hand, you must strive for this; on the other hand, you must, not only desire it, but also understand that this screen expresses bestowal to the Creator. Only the Creator Himself can build this screen, and only if you want to love Him as He loves you. That is, the screen is the result of the awareness of love, of connection, of fusion, of bonding.

It seems to us that we attain something after acquiring the screen. But once the screen is in place, there is nothing more to speak of.
[361319]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘He Who Is Without Sons,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
So the Kli Precedes the Light
Infinite World: Screen And Reflected Light
How Is the Connection with the Creator Formed?