Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 222

What Is the Difference Between Before and After the Barrier?

Before the barrier, a person passes through two principal and very important stages:

1) Double concealment
2) Single concealment

These two stages provide us with all the vessels and discernments, which we later enlarge in spirituality and upon which we dress additional discernments. The transgressions and mistakes that we make on our spiritual path toward the barrier are the actual vessels that we will use later.

The difference between before and after the barrier is not only in these vessels. The point is that before the barrier, when we are in concealment and the Creator is not revealed, we might sometimes feel something in relation to the Creator. Our sensation of the Creator is that of the surrounding light (Ohr Makif) and not of the inner light (Ohr Pnimi), because we still lack a screen (Masach).

After the barrier, we acquire a screen. The acquisition of the first screen is called crossing the barrier, and afterward additional screens are added. Then, according to the strength of our screen, we can receive inner light, which is a clear and tangible sensation of Godliness.

Question: Could the reason for the feeling of heaviness in the work be that a person reveals the Creator as the main active player, and refuses to accept this?

Answer: All the states, from the initial one until the moment of revealing the Creator, are difficult states. A sense of lightness, ascent, strength, confidence, potential, and realization can be felt only from the presence of the Creator.

Only when He appears before you will “our heart rejoice in Him.” Everything that happens before this (no matter in what form) will always be difficult, heavy, and sorrowful. This is intentional, but if a person agrees with these uncorrected states…

Question: But he cannot agree. Does the feeling of heaviness come as a result of a person’s inability to accept that the Creator governs all of reality? And the further a person advances, does it become more difficult for him to accept this?

Answer: I do not know how to express it. In any case, until a person has passed the barrier, it is difficult for him; only each time we feel the heaviness and powerlessness differently. It is impossible to express this in words. We are speaking about a transforming perception; the concepts of heaviness, sorrow, and laziness change.

And nevertheless, it is difficult in the sense that it is difficult to work with anything in the desire to bestow. We feel as though it is difficult for us to work in the will to receive, but in fact we are not speaking about this desire because, if we felt the goal in the will to receive, we would work with full strength. We lack nothing except the sense of the goal.

Each of us at least once in our life experienced enthusiasm in business, or in the pursuit of something interesting or useful, or in attempts to obtain something very necessary. And so it is now. Just show us some worthwhile goal, and we will run after it.

However, this time the goal is in the desire to bestow, the higher degree that reveals its reverse side to us. Therefore this is how we feel it.
[359720]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

Question: How can I move from regretting my own situation to feeling sorrow for the state of the whole world?

Answer: This is not the right question. Just as sorrow about my own state accumulates in me, so does sorrow about the state of the entire world. It all depends on a person’s inner work. The development of one’s Kli gradually leads to a state where one feels that one’s Kli is not only what is in one’s own belly, but also what is within others.

Just as parents feel dependent on their children, where what ultimately happens to the child also happens to their parents, so too does a person begin to feel like a father toward his children, that what is happening in the whole world, with all of humanity, is essentially what is happening to him.

He perceives this naturally; other people’s desires become joined to his own, and nothing can be done about it. This is how the Kli grows. You can’t artificially start taking an interest in someone else’s affairs. You suddenly remember something about it, then you forget, but that is all artificial, driven by self-benefit.

But a state arrives when you suddenly begin to feel, to some extent, concern for all of humanity, truly as if they were your own children. This happens in accordance with the degree of correction within the desire to receive. And there is no way around it, just as parents cannot free themselves from caring for their children.
[359527]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,’ in the Work?”

Question: The articles speak a lot about suffering and a sense of heaviness, and a person begins to take this for granted, justifying it by saying that the surrounding light is shining upon him. How can we prevent such an attitude from turning into an escape from the real difficult questions?

Answer: A person begins to experience heaviness and suffering, and they seem to turn into his idol. He begins to worship this state, coming to think that if he suffers, it means that he is superior to all of humanity. After all, humanity suffers from a lack of money, honor, and so on, while he suffers because he has not yet attained spirituality.

If a person wants to remain in this state even for a moment, it means that he is no longer suffering, but is enjoying his suffering, much like a masochist. This is a Klipa (shell, impurity) that has latched onto the person whispering: “Now you are truly working for the Creator. Look at the lofty ideals you are suffering for.”

Every moment of a person’s suffering is directed against the Creator, against the goal of bringing good to His creations. I know from my experience that it is very difficult to get break free from this, and impossible to do so alone. It requires a form of brainwashing by the group. Let your friends constantly tell you that this is wrong.

It is easy for us to lecture one another and to play a role in each others’ eyes is quite simple; the will to receive itself supports such an approach, when I present myself to you as being steadfast in my convictions. However, this does not prevent you from taking everything seriously, so why not make use of this?

We were given a foolish nature whereby another person’s external manifestation makes an impression on us, because outwardly my friend can project whatever outward image he chooses. And so, through his false “external self,” he defines my true “inner self.”

And there is nothing to be done about it—I am simply constructed in such a way that I am susceptible to the impressions made by the actions of the people around me. Just like an infant, who can be frightened by a scary facial expression and amused by laughter. We are exactly the same and no different from an infant in this respect, except that our reactions are not in such an obvious form. It is impossible to leave this state alone.

A person can suffer for years, justifying his suffering by telling himself he is a hero. Why is he a hero? Because he suffers. Some even go to prison and suffer there for all of humanity, feeling that they are special in their suffering. This manifests as a Klipa (shell) at various levels—both in connection with spirituality and outside of it.

After all, the purpose of creation stemming from the Good Who Does Good is to bestow goodness to His creations and for them to exist in goodness. Anything contrary to this, no matter how you justify it, is not suitable.

Even if you observe the most terrible things in the world, if you begin to suffer, it means that you are implicitly justifying what is taking place. You are not justifying the fact that the Creator is the one causing these things—although, of course, that is indeed so—but rather, the very fact that these things are happening to people; consequently your suffering stems from something other than their current state.

Here you may ask, what does meant by “suffering together with society,” as it is written in the books? It means relating to people from the perspective of the Creator and regretting the absence of the Shechina (Divine Presence) among them.

Regret over the exile of the Shechina is a purposeful state that drives a person to help others reach a state of revelation, and not at all to go and weep alongside them. This is completely different from the state toward which our body tries to incline us.
[359712]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”