Question: In the science of Kabbalah, you talk about the human ego, about connection with everyone, and that we must reach balance with nature. But what does this have to do with the connection with God (Elokim)?

Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we talk about nature. According to Gematria (the numerical value of a word), “nature” and “Elokim” are one and the same. This means that if we talk about the upper force, nature, or God, or the Creator, call Him whatever you want, everything around us is only a manifestation of this force.

If we are talking about the upper force, what difference does it make how we call it—Elokim or nature? There is the upper force (truly upper!) that gives birth to everything and governs everything, and we want to know how to connect with it, how to reveal It, to understand It.

Therefore, if I come out of myself, out of my ego, and I begin to reveal the reality outside of me, above my ego, this is called understanding, awareness, and revelation of the Creator. Obviously, this happens only in me and only relative to me.

By gradually organizing my desire, my spiritual structure, that is, the quality of bestowal and love for others—Keter, Hochma, Bina, Chesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut—and by aligning myself with this structure, I come to discern the connections between them and thereby attain the Creator.

Elokim is also called the Creator (Bore), from the words “come” (Bo) and “see” (Re), because we must “see” Him; we must reach a state in which we understand Him as if we see Him with our own eyes. For this purpose, we were created by Him.
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From a Lecture in Rome, 5/20/11

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As there cannot be a day without a night, there cannot be light without darkness. Darkness is the Kli [vessel] and the light is the filling of the Kli, following the rule, “there is no light without a Kli.”

…if a person says that both light and darkness come from God, this is “And God called.” At that time, both the light and the darkness make one day. That is, as there cannot be a complete day without evening and morning, so the light and darkness serve one role—both together are called “day” (Rabash, “What Are Day and Night in the Work?”).

“Day” and “night” in spiritual work are actions of the light; these are the same steps that lead to the goal of creation: adhesion with the Creator. Therefore, it is said that our goal is to reach a state in which there is no day or night, and everything is revealed as one light, when night is revealed as part of day.

Regarding what do I feel darkness? In relation to the goal of creation, as a lack of adhesion.

If a person has already reached a state where he checks himself and sees that he is in darkness because there is a desire to receive in him that separates him from the goal, he checks it in the dark, with only the light of a small illumination, light that he attracted from above through great efforts. Thus, he reaches a state where he is truly ready to come out of Egypt, out of his desire to receive, and into the spiritual world.

Therefore, first of all, we must remember that the feeling of night and darkness is necessary. This is a feeling of the real Kli, of our true nature. It is achieved in relation to the goal of creation, to the fact that we are in properties opposite to the Creator.

We must see why we are opposite to Him, why we cannot integrate into the Creator, that is, into the property of bestowal, and determine that precisely this is darkness.

But the reason for this should not be the desire for spirituality in order to feel good, avoid trouble, and experience various pleasures.

If a person realizes that his spirituality is a property of bestowal, while he is the opposite of this property, and he is unable to integrate into it, to adhere to it, then he decides this is a true night. And by regretting, he reaches a state where he turns this fall, this darkness, into day.

Then the darkness begins to bring him light, the Kli begins to change; it receives an intention for the sake of bestowal, and becomes like the light. This means that the state of final correction is neither day nor night.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/26, Rabash, “What Are Day and Night in the Work?”

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The Creator is only one quality—bestowal, absolute goodness. But the creation was made by the Creator as opposite to Him, as the desire to receive (pleasure).

Therefore, in order to come to similarity with the Creator, the creation must go through many opposite states.

In order not just to change the desire to receive into the desire to give and adhere to the Creator, but to remain independent yet similar to the Creator, the creation includes two components: the desire to enjoy and the sensation of the giver.

Our entire sense of the world and our existence is built from these two opposites: Yesh mi Ain (existence out of nothing), only then does the creation feel that it exists.

We cannot exist only in Yesh (in the reality of the Creator) or only in Ain (in the reality of creation); therefore, we undergo consecutive changes in ourselves so the light (Yesh), which created me from nothing (Mi Ain), brings the desire (Ain) to the form of Yesh, the form of the Creator.

This is how it leads me along this chain: from cause to effect, from cause to effect, where each previous
result becomes the cause of the next state.

So far I am starting to feel His attitude toward me as someone external, an outsider, the force that created and controls me.

In addition to the fulfillment that I feel within reason, there is also the force of the Creator that develops me, shows me an example and a goal, and here I must act by faith.

I am in my current state like an animal acting only on what it has, but I also take into account the next state, the next degree; although I do not yet have it, I accept its existence by faith because it is the opposite my present state.

The nature of spiritual degrees is such that the next degree is the opposite of the previous one because it is a greater bestowal than the previous one.

Therefore, in order to ascend to it, I must accept its conditions of “bestowal contrary to egoism,” faith above reason.

Otherwise, I will forever remain on the current, animate degree and will receive everything in the same desire to enjoy rather than climbing the spiritual degrees, the degrees of bestowal.

Therefore, we must prepare ourselves to accept the next degree as desirable and not push it away.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Rabash, “The Meaning of Truth and Faith”

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In my material life I generally act in my own interests rather than the common good; primarily, I think about my own benefit, rather than about relatives or friends. To what extent do I see this as evil? Only to the degree that it is revealed to me. If it were not revealed, I would not see it. And had even more been revealed, I would not have been able to bear it, I would jump out of my skin, somehow break out of myself, just to leave all these qualities behind. But even this is not given.

Perhaps if I were granted such a revelation just once, no matter how agonizing it might be to endure (and it would be sheer hell), I would cry out with such intensity that I would be liberated of these qualities. But again, it is not granted. It is as if I am being kept over a low flame, constantly being turned from one side to the other; this is what is happening to me in this life.

This gives rise to the question: How will this end? I am granted a glimpse, a small revelation, of who I am, but this is not enough to enable me to break free from this state. On the one hand, it no longer lets me live the “good” material life that I once had when I busied myself with all sorts of nonsense and thought that, that was what life was about.

“Let them allow me to come into the spiritual realm already! Let me go through this stage, this period of suffering that is caused by my own nature and want another one, to reach a state when I am not in an intention for the sake of receiving. Perhaps that is the way? Let it be revealed to me! Yes, this period may be hard until I perceive and feel the suffering from what I have compared to what the Creator has. It seems this contrast is difficult to sense clearly,  but I have to go through this stage, and that is all.”

If a person makes decisions of this kind, then he is already on the right track, since he shows his readiness to tackle this situation as quickly as possible and move through it, rather than remaining suspended between heaven and earth. And here he needs those who will support him, the Creator and the group, in order to apply the required sum of efforts and quickly pass through this stage.

But each time you experience a particular state, whether you feel good or not so good, and sometimes very bad because you are using others, this is not under your control. Rather it is a means for a glimpse of the truth to be revealed to you. Based on what happens to you, each time ask yourself the question of who benefits from this. In other words, what is the Creator doing with me? What does He want from me by this?
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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