Question: What does our true work consist of: going out into the external environment and disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah, or is it something internal, the realization of inner changes?

Answer: We do not produce any changes, neither external nor internal. However, within our consciousness, there is a certain pull toward action, a drive to do something. In principle, all abilities are given to us from above, yet they must be united and used in such a way that I myself wish to advance precisely in the direction that the Creator indicates to me.

If we carefully examine this direction, we will discover that it always stands in opposition to our egoistic nature. And if this is not so, if the direction toward the Creator does not contradict my egoism, then evidently, I have inaccurately determined that the Creator has placed my hand upon the correct choice and proposed that I strengthen myself in it. When I truly choose the direction of the Creator, it must be a direction of pure bestowal, opposite to my nature.

As a rule, we do not see the correct direction so clearly and choose something close to it. Gradually, over time, the path becomes clearer; we acquire a narrower resolution, a more precise power of resolution, and then we begin to see it more distinctly. But this takes time.

If we were to see everything at once, we would run away from it, because “good fate” belongs to the category of Din (judgment, restriction). A person is incapable of this! One arrives at it gradually, little by little. A true choice, when the Creator truly places my hand upon something, is something that burns like fire. What does “good fate” mean? Good fate is bestowal!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

The obstacles placed before the desire to receive cause the development of reason. Then a person can make a free choice. If the desire to receive cannot be fulfilled immediately and does not see this opportunity, and is trying to learn how to do it, it builds a certain system for itself.

In particular, when a person is not under the pressure of pleasure before him, he can build an attitude to pleasure that depends not on his desire to receive but on the greatness of the giver of the pleasure.

This is called the transition from Lo Lishma (not for the sake of the Creator) to Lishma (for the sake of the Creator). That is, a person does not work for pleasure or the expectation of fulfilling himself, but to fulfill the master who gives pleasure. Because the master wants the person to receive, it pleases Him.

When a person receives in order to please the Master, it is said that all his pleasure and all his actions are no longer receiving but giving. That is, two actions must be performed here: the first is to shield oneself from receiving pleasure, to make a restriction, and the second is to use the desire to receive and enjoy only to the extent that it can fulfill the master. That is, to check how much I feel the greatness of the master.

The degree to which I value Him, disconnected from my own pleasures, determines my subsequent action. It follows that this action is entirely performed in Lishma (for the sake of the Creator), for the sake of the Master.

There are not numerous actions needed, just one: to shift the crucial turning point from the feeling inside my desire to receive to the feeling of the importance of the master.

When the Creator becomes more important in my eyes than the feeling inside my desire to receive, it is called that I have crossed the Machsom. To the extent that He is more important to me than my sense of pleasure, the higher my spiritual degree is.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

It is known that if you give something important to a person who does not know its value, and there are people who do know its importance, that thing will move to those people either by theft or by losing it, for the person will not know how to keep it, and there are people who know its value and they will steal or find it and not return it to the owner (Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”).

Question: Does this mean that if something is important to me, I try to acquire it in some way? And if there is no other way, do I steal it or exchange it for something else?

Answer: It is said, “Go and earn from one another.” We are constantly in relationships of buying and selling with each other. I give to him, he gives to me, and so on. Thus, everyone does something in the world, and everyone needs everyone else to serve him. This is how we are built.

We constantly choose what seems to be more important in our lives, and therefore, we must always carefully examine what is truly important to us.

Human nature is such that if something is important to us, we begin to distinguish it from other things and discover aspects, qualities, and characteristics that we did not see before, but now suddenly discover them. We become experts in this area like no one else, a professional in our field.

Everything depends on the importance a person attaches to a particular thing. In our lives, we single out one task, begin to focus on it, and then it becomes our primary focus, while everything else becomes secondary. Then I truly become an expert in that matter because it is the only thing I need. So we must analyze who am I, what is important to me, how do I work with it, and what I choose as my primary focus.

Rabash is speaking about importance here. If there is something that is important to me, I try to reach it by all possible means and acquire it at any cost. After all, first of all, when I look at something, I say: “I want this,” like a child. Look at children, a small child does not ask whose it is; he wants to grab it, and that’s it. Only for him this is forgiven; he is still naive.

The same is true with us: the first thought is “I want,” and then the “but” begins: “It’s not mine, what will happen to me because of it, maybe yes, maybe no.”

So, when is this called theft? Theft is when I know for sure that it belongs to someone, but I do not think about them and I try to acquire it against their will. Moreover, I do it secretly: perhaps secretly from myself, not realizing that I am stealing; perhaps secretly from the one from whom I am stealing; or perhaps both at the same time.

What can be worse than theft? When I do not look at myself or at you at all, but simply come and take it by force. That is robbery, assault, and the use of force. In short, there are many different concepts and details here, and all of them are used in spirituality.

There is not a single quality in us that is not used in spirituality. On the contrary, in spirituality they use the “good” sides of the qualities of theft and robbery. They are used against the desire to receive, when I “steal” from it in all kinds of ways and extract parts from it for use for the sake of bestowal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

Question: Is there a reward that corresponds to the effort exerted?

Answer: In spirituality efforts are rewarded, but not in the same way as is customary in our world where I demand more for less effort, and the boss offers less pay for more effort. And so we haggle, negotiate, and settle on something.

In spirituality, I work against the upper light. To the degree I become similar to the light, it enters me, and this is the reward. Here there is no bargaining and there can be no correct or incorrect decisions, actions, or consequences. Everything is in order within the laws of nature.

Question: Then how can I understand the contradiction “exerted efforts and found?”

Answer: It means that in advance I do not know exactly the light that I will receive because I have never sensed it. The attainment I will reveal is a secret for me now. I know what will be, but I cannot say exactly what or how because I am not ready yet. I do not have any “means” with which I can receive this information, this sensation and say “this is what I am heading for!”

I know that I am heading for my next, higher rung of bestowal, the connection of the entire system, which is called love. Love is dependency within the system.

If any system that we make (for example capacitors, resistors, coils, etc.) functions correctly, then we say that it exists in love with another, meaning in complete understanding of the mutual program, the connection. It is the same thing here.

Question: Does it mean I make efforts to annul myself and think about others?

Answer: Self-annulment is necessary; otherwise, I will not become included in the system.

Comment: But I do not know when I will receive a reward for this.

My Response: Inclusion into the system is the reward. Imagine that there is a completely interconnected system where everything is occurring in a living analog mode. If I include myself into it, I will exist in it. My existence in it is my reward.

If I do not exist in it yet I have to work on myself in order to connect to it and become integrally connected with it. This is my work.

Question: Let’s say I have made an effort. When will I connect to the system, will it remain a secret for me?

Answer: It is impossible to say because I do not even know what else I have to complete in order to become totally integrated into this system. Of all the capacitors, resistors, coils and thousands of other elements I do not know exactly what I have to take into my change in order to connect to them. I simply have to annul myself so they can format me to fit them.

In essence our task boils down to annulment of my “I.” Let the rest of the scheme, whether it is electronic or human, it does not matter which one, adapt me to itself. I simply give myself to it. This is the condition of the first restriction (Tzimtzum Alef).
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From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/22/18