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Two Ways of Evaluating the Will to Receive

238.02Question: If I must strive to rise to a higher degree because I want to find a better state there, am I simply running away from suffering?

Answer: Why do you think the exodus from Egypt did not happen through suffering? You ask why I must advance by the path of suffering. It is because you are in the will to receive for your own sake and do not even know it; you must gradually begin to become aware of it and become acquainted with your egoism.

In the will to receive itself there is nothing bad; it is bad only relative to the Creator; relative to this world it is ordinary. We see how in people with great egoistic desires succeed our world.

They earn a lot of money and rule over those whose will to receive is not so great. As a result, those who do not need more than to earn a livelihood somewhere work for the one in whom the will to receive is great. He becomes the boss, the owner, and they become his workers.

It turns out that for our world the will to receive is a good, useful thing. And only if the Creator is revealed a little and He wants to advance the person and humanity, then to that extent He reveals the evil inherent in this state. And if we did not compare it with the Creator, we would not find anything bad in the will to receive itself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror

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See the Light from Within the Darkness

276.01In spirituality, desire determines everything. Therefore, a created being is not capable of willingly desiring suffering in order to subsequently, after a few steps, delight the Creator with an altruistic intention. This is impossible. This entire process must begin from above. The Creator is always the initiator.

Question: In the corporeal world, a small child learning how to walk does not see how helpless his state is because his mother is before his eyes and he knows she will help him. What about spirituality?

Answer: If we were standing and crying like a child, but while crying, looking toward the Creator, this state would be different from when He is concealed. If you see the Creator, it means He has not left you; He has not concealed Himself.

In the corporeal world, connection can be felt through sight, touch, an embrace, and so on. In spirituality as well, there are various degrees of connection: an embrace, a kiss, and so forth. If you have drawn closer to the Creator (no matter to what degree you are connected with Him), this cannot be called a state of darkness because you remain in connection with Him. He does not abandon you.

We must understand that states of darkness are sent to us from above according to how much effort we must apply at a given degree. Perhaps they are sent to you with the initial intention that you will not succeed. Perhaps this is meant to give you the opportunity to accumulate Reshimot and to clarify your failures, so that you will exert certain efforts in this situation.

You do not know this, but you are given exactly what you need at this moment for your spiritual advancement. The accounting is done from above. You do not know why or for what purpose—just as a child does not understand why his mother has stepped away from him, why she seems so harsh.

He was always in her arms and suddenly she places him in the middle of the room and steps back. The child is completely helpless, while the mother rejoices; she is teaching him to walk, teaching him independence.

This is what: “You shall see My back” (Achoraim) is. That is, from a state of darkness, you begin to see the light. It does not mean that through the Achoraim you directly see the light. In the state of Achoraim, you build the Kli. And through the Kli, you then reveal the face of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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Don’t Slander, Help

238.02Question: How can I ask a friend for help?

Answer: The help you can request from a friend should consist of his telling you something good. What else could there be?

When you turn to a friend, you should not tell him about all your misfortunes because this will bring him down.

Whether you want to or not, you are negatively affecting the other person, which is forbidden to do; it is called evil speech. If a person tells someone else something bad, no matter the form, it is slander.

What is slander? Anything one hears that brings him down and weakens him. Even just frivolity or any mockery weakens a person because his thoughts and intentions disappear the moment he hears it.

But the slander that is openly directed against the Creator is especially serious: “Who is the Creator that I should listen to Him?” This is the root cause of slander, because it cuts off any opportunity for a person to turn to the Creator, and in it lies his salvation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror

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Awe Is the Foundation of Love

227In order for a person to have equivalence of form with the Creator, he must try to have fear in everything he does, as it is written (there), “Fear means that he is afraid lest he will diminish in bringing contentment to his Maker.” (Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”)

It is impossible to begin any relationship between a person and anyone else without the condition of awe. Awe is what the desire to receive feels as it strives for fulfillment, for life, for pleasure. However, opposite this, it also feels fear.

An unfulfilled desire to receive experiences fear that this state will remain or that it will come to such a state. This is animalistic fear—awe (Ira).

If we acquire a screen over this animalistic awe, which is directed inward toward the desire to receive, then from the desire to receive this awe turns toward the Creator and becomes something else entirely. Instead of thinking about myself and fearing for my own state, I tremble and think about His state. This means that I begin to feel the “suffering of the Shechina.”

Just as the desire to receive is the foundation for developing a system of relationships directed toward bestowal, so too, awe is the foundation for developing a system of relationships directed toward love. There can be no love without awe.

Even in the highest love, there must be awe. What if I could have given one gram more and I did not? And this is not any kind of deficiency on the part of the Creator, nor any natural deficiency on the part of the created being.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/26, Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”

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Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust: Bringing the World to Unity

052The Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust is a special, very sorrowful day in the history of the Jewish people and of all humanity, since we are all connected with one another. On such a day we must speak about the causes of this tragedy and its lessons, so that “the deeds of the fathers may serve as a sign for the sons.”

There is nothing but the upper force, good and doing good, which governs us all the time. There is not a single action that goes beyond this good governance.

Therefore, if in our scrutiny we do not rise above our egoistic nature and begin to judge the Creator, doubting His good guidance, then we will deceive ourselves. Then all our investigation will bring no benefit and will lead us into the same bitter reality we are forced to speak about today.

The Creator feels our sensations. If we are united and rejoice in this, then the Creator rejoices. He has no sensations of His own; He resides within us, much like a mother who lives through her beloved infant. Through our connection with one another, we create a place for the Creator, a place where He can exist.

And if we are not connected, then there is no place for the Creator; consequently, we feel His actions in a distorted, inverted form, as if they do not come from Him. Every action is experienced in us in direct proportion to the degree of our unity or disunity.

The Creator resides within our connection with one another. This connection must be in a constant state of development, beginning from the initial shattering performed by the Creator up to the final correction, complete adhesion. As long as we do not lag behind in our advancement from the stages of correction we are destined to traverse, all is well with us. But if we fall behind, then we find ourselves in a dire state, one that we ourselves have brought about.

If at every moment we do not correct the connection between us, then we feel the difference between the desired state and the actual one. Suppose that today I must be corrected by 20% in my connection with all humanity and I have reached only 15% connection.

Consequently the missing 5% are revealed to me as pressure, problems. In essence, these are the forces that are meant to speed up my advancement, to make up for the delay, to extinguish the gap between the desired and the actual.

These forces do not testify to the goodness or evil of the Creator, but are simply a natural consequence of the work of the system, as it is said: “A law has been given and cannot be transgressed.” That is, one must evaluate not by how painful or pleasant it is for us, but by how much these forces, which are revealed to us as good or evil, help us to advance correctly.

The Creator does not wish us evil, but there is a law of nature, and in fulfilling it we feel our connection, whereas in violating it we feel pain, to such an extent that today we are forced to recall the Holocaust, the most sorrowful event in the history of the Jewish people.

And of course, it was not caused by the Creator, but by people who were obliged to correct the connection between them and did not correct it. The delay in correction was so enormous that it poured out into terrible suffering.

What lessons can we draw from this? Throughout the journey from ancient Babylon until today many tragic events have occurred, and all for a single reason. Since the Creator represents the general law of nature, the system shows us the necessity of connection. But we do not listen to it and do not hasten to rectify the delay, we consequently receive the corresponding consequences. In fact, we ourselves have caused them and cannot blame the Creator.

We are aware of the requisite conditions, but we do not fulfill them; in doing so, we summon forces that push us toward our ultimate goal with greater severity and resolve.  Throughout history tension and troubles have pursued us: exiles, enslavement in Egypt, wandering in the desert, and the destruction of the Temple. But the Holocaust is a state of an entirely unique nature.

In the course of its historical development, the people of Israel had already reached the point where the fourth degree of connection within the soul of Adam HaRishon became a necessity, but failed to realize it. Even today we are not fulfilling this goal, so what can we expect? Only states even worse than those that we have already endured. We must learn from history in order not to repeat the same states.

After Babylon and Egypt, blows pursue us one after another at every moment when we do not create the connection between us in the required measure. The punishment will be collective for the entire people of Israel. And today we are responsible not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.

At one time it was possible to carry out the correction in a limited group, within the European Jewry. The Nazis themselves wanted to help the Jews revive the State of Israel. At first, they acted as forces helping the correction. But if we do not use the chance given to us, these forces turn into negative ones.

And today, if we do not use the forces serving to awaken us, forces that are already manifesting as negative, they will turn into something far more terrible ones than anything we witnessed before. Today’s Holocaust would be on a different scale entirely, not confined to Europe, but would encompass the whole world. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand this reality and hasten to undertake the necessary corrections before it is too late.

If we unite, then the upper force flows through us to all the nations of the world, to all of reality, and gradually the whole world attains a state of unity. At that point, all turmoil subsides, the Creator begins to reveal Himself to the created beings, and the world attains its destined correction.

If, however, we, the people of Israel, do not unite among ourselves, at least within Israel, where there are the best conditions for connection, if we do not become as one man with one heart, do not love our neighbor as ourselves, do not become a light for the nations of the world by demonstrating an example of unity to the world, then we will pass through such terrible states that the horrors of the Holocaust will pale in comparison.

Merits can turn into faults and faults into merits. Therefore, we must believe that we currently have the opportunity, the time, the place, and all the necessary means to avoid repeating the mistake made by the Jewish people almost a hundred years ago.

We must not squander the opportunity to unite among ourselves in order to connect with the upper force that is inherently good and the source of all goodness. Through us this force, which wants to be revealed to all the inhabitants of this world, will be able to manifest. We must help it in this and become a conduit between it and humanity.

Let us not repeat past mistakes. The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the laws of nature, laws that operate independently of whether we find them pleasant or unpleasant, laws that do not take into account anyone’s partisan or economic interests. There is no doubt that had the Jewish people behaved differently back then, the world today would look completely different.

Everything lies in our hands; we determine our fate and the fate of the whole world. The law of nature is an immutable law that must be fulfilled. The Creator does not pity us and does not punish us, He simply carries out this universal law. The Creator is nature, and according to nature’s program we are obliged to unite in one desire, in one intention, according to a single formula of mutual bestowal. We must bring this unity to the world—this is our mission.

Let us not repeat the bitter mistakes of the past; instead, on this solemn day, let us resolve to take upon ourselves the sacred duty of leading the world toward true unity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/19 on the topic “Holocaust Remembrance Day”

Why Maror (Bitter Herbs) Must Be Chewed

628.2It is written in Shaar Hakavanot [Gate of Intentions], “This is the meaning of the Maror [bitter herb], which is ‘death,’ in Gematria. This is also why he must taste bitterness, and if he swallows it, he does not do his duty… (Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”)

There are three states in the universe. The first state is the stage of infinity (Ein Sof) that includes souls before they leave the direct control of the Creator. This stage is as He created it; He gives everything the qualities of perfection and eternity. As He is, so are they.

However, this is done on by Him. Therefore, souls that sense the Creator experience what is called “shame.”

They need to be freed from shame, and thereby be brought to a state in which they will no longer simply receive from Him, like a fetus in the womb, in perfection due to His efforts, but would acquire their own level, their own feeling, their own awareness, that they will really rise to the level of the Creator, become similar to Him in properties, and not be compelled by Him.

Then the second state arises, the state of work and effort, during which we go through the process of correcting and installing Kelim in order to experience the first state in its entirety. We ourselves desire it, and acquire it; it is ours. When this happens, the second state turns into the third.

Therefore, Maror (bitter herbs) should not be swallowed but chewed. According to our Passover laws, a certain amount of time, a certain measure, is allotted for this.

And then, if we “chewed” it well, if we went through all the attributes of the properties in the desire to receive relative to the Creator’s desire to give, understood what our nature is, and then achieved the use of the intention for the sake of giving, i.e., as they say, “swallowed” Maror, then we really come out through the work of acquiring new vessels, and we merit “getting out of Egypt.”

In the work itself, there are three special stages: faith, prayer, efforts (in Hebrew: “Emuna,” “Tefila,” “Igiya,” the acronym of the first letters of which is “Iti“, which means “with Me”).

The “place,” the state we have to reach, is called “with Me” (“Iti“): “Here is the place [next to] Me.” This is the place of the Creator, and you can come to this state “with Me” through faith, prayer, and effort.

These stages are present at every stage of our work, in every state. Accordingly, the overall process of our advancement is divided primarily into these three parts: faith, prayer, and effort.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/26, Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”

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Everything Has Already Been Prepared for Us

263Concerning the Maror, it is written in the Haggadah, “This Maror we are eating, what is it for? For the lives of our fathers in Egypt were made bitter by the Egyptians, as it was said, ‘And they made their lives bitter with hard work … which they made them do hard labor.’”

We should understand what “And they made their lives bitter with hard work” means. What is it in the work of the Creator? (Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”)

On one hand, it is written in the Torah that the people of Israel are “stiff-necked,” stubborn, unwilling to listen to anyone; it is difficult to impose anything on them or obligate them.

On the other hand, it is said that this is done by the Creator. He places Israel in such conditions, gives them all kinds of obstacles, hardens their heart so that they cannot hear and fulfill what He demands, and so that they will feel the need for Him with the full depth of their desire to receive, and then within them arises the desire for redemption.

What is required from the people of Israel if the Creator so hardens their hearts?

In the article “Freedom of Will” we learn that nothing needs to be done. There is nothing new that must be built, everything has already been built. All the degrees are arranged, and if a person rises from degree to degree, it is, of course, because he receives the strength, the mind, and the desire from above. If he has an awakening from below, it means he has the desire and the sense of necessity for ascent, and he cannot help but move to the next degree.

So where, then, is the place for our work?

Our work is in the middle, in the constant “and they groaned…”, that is, in a quick, independent check: Can we turn to the Creator?

Our work is in the awareness of the state. As soon as a person becomes aware of his state, from above it is immediately changed to a more advanced one. He becomes aware of the next state, again it is replaced with an even more advanced one. And so, each time.

The entire ladder of states was already created in advance in the process of the expansion of the light from above downward. There is nothing new here, everything has already been prepared for us.

A person must understand that if he wishes to improve his state (and this is also true regarding society and our people in these difficult times), he has no possibility of doing so while remaining on the same degree, because the degree on which he stands determines his state.

If we wish to feel better, we must rise to a degree closer to the light; there we will feel better. And if we want to feel even better, we will be obliged to rise even higher.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror

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What Determines the Speed of Ascent?

209How can we rise along the rungs of spiritual elevation? Kabbalists answer that it is by means of the light that returns to the source.

During the study of Kabbalistic sources with the correct intention, we arouse the surrounding lights, and as it is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” the surrounding light that comes awakens a person, gives him strength, and the person rises from their degree to a higher one and from that degree to an even higher one.

One must not expect that in my current state I will feel better; this will not happen! On the contrary, if a person does not advance toward the surrounding light and lags behind “the general time,” then he descends, and begins to feel worse and worse until the sufferings bring him to the understanding that he ought to begin to rise, since to change a state means to rise.

And one can rise by means of the light that returns to the source. This constitutes the entire principle of realizing “Jacob’s ladder.” It is immutable and we are all on it.

So it is necessary to become aware of the state we are in, understand the reason we feel bad and how we can be saved, and bring the means of deliverance into action: the study of Kabbalah with the intention to rise. And the closer a person is to the surrounding light in his intention during study, the more strongly this light influences him, and the faster, accordingly, the person rises.

We know that connection in the spiritual is determined by similarity of qualities. The closer a person’s intentions are to bestowal and the farther they are from his own ego, the stronger is the influence of the light on him. Therefore when beginning to study, it is necessary to arm oneself with such an intention, and then we will indeed be able to rise along the spiritual degrees and feel attain a sense of well-being.

This is precisely what the Creator desires: that each of us should find a degree on which he will feel good. Then a person will discover that this is not enough for him and that an even greater pleasure exists. And so on until the very end of correction when he will see that he is in absolute good.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror

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Leaven Is Not All the Same

599.02Question: What is “leaven” (Chametz) that we so carefully remove before the holiday of Passover?

Answer: The leaven before Passover is the evil inclination that we had in Egypt that we used in order to fight with one another.

But the leaven we return to after Passover is used differently. We use it in order to bestow upon one another. After all, without the bad relationships we had before, we would not know how to establish good ones. That is, we use the opposite—where there was hatred, there will now be love.

Yet this new leaven is not the same as the previous leaven because I use it for the sake of bestowal, for the sake of love.

For example, before I would constantly take your toys when playing with you, and I would enjoy the fact that you cried, screamed, and ran to complain to your mother. Now I decide that I will no longer do this. So what do I live on? “The bread of affliction,” Matzah. What do I gain from this? What pleasures are there in life? None! For seven days I remain in such a state.

Then I pass as though through a tiny opening, from exile to redemption. This is called the crossing of the final sea (Red Sea). That is, I exit the state in which I used my ego and enjoyed my own power, like Pharaoh.

And afterward when I have made the decision to become different, that same leaven, that is, those same toys that I took from you and enjoyed your crying about it, I return to you, and now I enjoy the fact that you receive pleasure.

This is bread after the exodus from Egypt, not the “bread of affliction,” not even ordinary bread, but a luxurious cake that is 620 times richer, that we call “bread of love.”

We take all the evil that we had in Egypt and turn it into good. This is what the people of Israel wept about during the forty years of wandering in the desert. They cry, “Where is our Egypt?!” because they include it within themselves, and then they correct it, again and again.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matzah,” 3/24/15

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How the Creator Teaches Us to “Walk”

249.03Question: What does humility above reason mean?

Answer: It is about the fact that when the Creator is revealed, a person feels like they are in a good state.

During this period, one must understand that he received this state not by his own efforts; it is not his achievement. It is simply that now he is pleasing to the Creator, so He wishes to bring him closer and does it at His own expense.

And afterward, the Creator will give a person the opportunity to approach spirituality at one’s own expense.

What does this mean? You must reach a state where you feel filled with light and the closeness of the Creator on your own, through your own efforts, the moment you are given the feeling of darkness. This can be compared to a situation where a mother leaves a child, takes a step back, and now the little one must take a step forward to fall into his mother’s arms. This is how she teaches him to walk.

In the same way, a person must once again connect with the Creator and try to restore the previous state of unity with spirituality, like a child returning to his mother’s arms. But the person must do this by their own efforts, that is, to fill their emptied Kelim with their own reflected light.

Previously, the mother filled his Kelim; this was the filling from above. Now he must fill himself through the light of Hassadim and come to the same state of joy, unity, and closeness as when the upper filled his Kelim.

This state is called filling with the light of faith during darkness, so that a person does not feel a lack (Hisaron), so that faith fills his whole Kli, as it is said: “And the darkness will shine as light.”

Similar processes are present also before the Machsom, but the light in these states is not real. Even before the Machsom, you feel confidence and joy from the closeness and feeling of the divine presence.

And after entering the spiritual world, all sensations are measured by light; you go through true, real states. This is like the birth of a new life.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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A Sign of Advancement

251Question: What is the connection between a person’s advancement in spirituality and the length of the periods of darkness?

Answer: The periods of darkness (Achoraim) test us; they check how ready we are to make efforts in order to come to a good state in our sensations. But this does not mean that we disconnect from the work.

Let us say I was in a good state, I had an excellent mood, a good attitude toward the study, I felt some closeness to spirituality. Now I have run out of steam, I no longer feel my former enthusiasm, my mood has worsened, I again lose interest in spirituality.

If I stop studying now, go on a trip, go have fun in a bar, or simply go to sleep, I would not build new Kelim, I would not advance myself in spirituality. Of course, I will experience some sensations, and these Reshimot will be added to the general fund. In time, based on these Reshimot, a shift in the right direction will come.

But the most effective and powerful shift is achieved when we resist the state of darkness with all our might. We strive to return to the feeling of spirituality as much as possible.

From above, I was given the opportunity to return from the state of darkness to light by my own strength. I can attach myself to spirituality despite the fact that I am not being helped from above. My emptied Kli, which had previously been under the influence of the surrounding light, must be filled with my own impression of the importance of spirituality, and then I will feel myself as I felt before the state of darkness.

Previously, this feeling was given to me by the light that filled me. Now, I give myself this feeling of closeness of spirituality. However, for this, I need an environment, a teacher, books, and various actions that help me acquire the greatness of the Creator. That is, I must fill my empty Kli myself. And the ideal situation is when I succeed in doing this.

Then I instantly move to a new state. I succeeded, I did it, I rose one degree higher by myself. Now an even heavier feeling of darkness is added to me. That is, I took a step forward toward the mother, again fell into her tender arms, I rejoice, but suddenly the mother leaves me again. I have just embraced her, again united with her, and she takes a step back again. And this step back is now much greater than the previous one.

If it were the same small step, I would not worry. But now the situation seems to have worsened. That is, each time you fall even lower, the states of descent are heavier. A person thinks that they have become worse, have moved even further from the Creator. This is a sign of advancement. Because they will now be able to step forward even further by themself. This is the process.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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276.02Question: The Creator suffers from the fact that He cannot bestow to the creation. But for what reason would the creation develop a need to bestow to the Creator?

Answer: The need to bestow comes to the creation from above without any preparation on its part. Just as the light that filled the first stage gave it its nature, so too the surrounding light that descends upon the one who studies Kabbalah, who wants to connect with the root, gives him its qualities.

Even if for now he simply wants to connect with the root without even yet realizing what it is; however, he studies not for the sake of knowledge, but for the sake of filling the point in the heart. And then the surrounding light, by influencing him, brings him the enchantment of holiness, and brings him precisely an affinity for the quality of bestowal.

The surrounding light gives a person the desire to bestow. A person does not know how this happens. We are not capable of expressing how, within the desire to receive, a desire to bestow is born; just as from the first stage of direct light, the second stage is formed. We have no words to express this transformation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”

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The Relationship Between the Host and the Guest

232.01Question: What does bestowal to the Creator consist of? After all, the Creator, in essence, does not need any bestowal from our side.

Answer: Let’s take the example of the guest and the host, which Baal HaSulam chose probably because it describes all the nuances of the relationship. On one hand, it seems that the host needs nothing from the guest, but on the other hand, why does He nevertheless make the guest aware of His existence?

He could receive pleasure from the guest without revealing Himself. Does a mother in our world have an intention to reveal herself to the child when she gives anything to him? No, such is simply the nature of her desire to receive. She enjoys even though the child gives nothing back.

Thus, from the perspective of the desire to receive, the host is not obliged to reveal Himself to the guest; the desire to receive already contains fulfillment from the act of giving. Therefore, the desire to reveal Himself to the guest stems from the desire to bestow; through the revelation of the Host, the guest can reach a higher degree than that of a receiver.

We see that Bina does not need any return from Malchut other than receiving MAN, according to which she passes MAD from Aba to Malchut, and nothing more. Why? ZAT of Bina is the desire to receive, therefore she does not need any response from Malchut, which simply receives without any restriction.

But when Bina reveals herself to Malchut, she does not reveal her essence, but her GAR, the desire to bestow that she received from Keter, and wishes to resemble it because Keter is the giver.

Here there is a kind of paradox. If the desire to receive works for the sake of bestowal, then it does not need any response for its own benefit. The desire of the mother (Ima) to receive is fulfilled; she is satisfied by taking from the father (Aba) and passing it on. Her AHP is full, and she enjoys it—just ask from below, and that is enough.

From this we see that even if the Creator had a desire to receive, He still would have no need whatsoever to reveal Himself to the created being, only to give and to enjoy bestowing. Only the necessity to bring the created being to His level obligates the Creator to reveal Himself, not out of a desire to receive, but from a true desire to bestow, in order to build Kelim within the created being, desires to attain His level.

Therefore, when the created being begins to feel the host, it also senses His status. The host is not simply giving to it, for one who gives actually wants to receive pleasure from it, which seems justified to us. But when the host is revealed as perfect, revealing to the created being its own imperfection in comparison, then the created being truly acquires a deficiency (Hisaron).

Now we see that receiving pleasure from the host within the desire to receive is necessary only to maintain the connection, while everything else is based solely on the unfulfilled desire (Hisaron) of the created being to be like the host. Therefore, each time we deepen in the work, in its importance, in any relationship with the Creator, we must relate to Him not as the giver (“Go to the Master who made me”), but as a model for my Hisaron, as the one I must become like.

I must strive for the same qualities, the same properties, the same aspirations that He has. And this is called the “first nine Sefirot” (Tet Rishonot). The rest of the relationship is then built on the interaction between the receiver and the giver, between the Creator and the created being.
[354719]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/26, Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”

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First Come the Transgressions, Then Their Correction

294.2Question: It is said that a person exits their spiritual state, falls, and then is in an unconscious state. What does that mean?

Answer: First of all, even now we are in an unconscious state, devoid of awareness of the spiritual. Suppose a person is already on a spiritual degree. What does it mean that he “descends from that degree”? The lights, the Mochin, depart from them, and if the lights leave, it means they are without consciousness: the Light exits, and the understanding and feeling of where you are disappear.

Question: Why does a person realize this only after several hours or days, rather than being able to grasp it the moment the light departs?

Answer: In our current state, this happens because you are still under the rule of the Klipot. The lights withdraw because an additional measure of the desire to receive is added to you. In this, it is as if there is no fault of yours; you do not exit your state by yourself.

We never enter into a spiritual state or exit it on our own; rather, we are given additional desire to receive. You did something, achieved something, received some reward through effort, and now a state of awareness in your connection with the Creator comes.

In spirituality, as soon as you attain something, you must continue. In the corporeal world, you can remain in a good state, but here it is not so. Therefore, the Reshimot of the next degree immediately awakens in you with greater Aviut. This Aviut seemingly “spoils” your connection with the Creator, and then you begin to receive pleasure for your own sake within this Aviut.

You begin to enjoy: “How wonderful this world is!” and you already forget about the connection with the Creator, about the fact that precisely because you were striving toward Him, you received this pleasure. And so, you fall.

But what is a descent? It is the loss of connection with the upper one.

You remain within your desire to receive, enjoying it, and that’s it. This is defined as a fall. When does it happen? When there is a lack of attainment, of awareness. And so, it happens each time that the added desire is greater than what has been corrected. It disconnects you from the Creator, and you remain only with the pleasure.

So what can you do? Nothing can be done; now you must correct this desire. Did you have the ability not to fall? No. Could you have held yourself at the moment before the fall and remained in the higher state of connection with the Creator with the new Aviut? No. You are obliged to realize it in the descent, that is, to pass through its full depth and then connect it to the desire for connection with the Creator. There is no other way.

Therefore, it is said: “There is no righteous person who performs a commandment without first stumbling.”

Thus, first come failures, darkness, intentional and unintentional transgressions, and only afterward comes their correction.
[354547]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”

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What Makes Us Become Wiser?

294.2Question: Recently, I was in a state of darkness, and the thought that this was sent to me from above and that I must oppose it with my own efforts helped me. How can this approach be explained to people who are truly suffering?

Answer: You are touching on two different things here. Right now, we are going through a difficult period: the Creator is distancing Himself from us.

When the Creator hides from us, terrible troubles fall upon us, intense suffering that we constantly have to overcome. And to the extent that we fail to move forward, that we do not want it and do not seek a path that will lead us to the light, our suffering increases. This is because the purpose of suffering is to awaken us to search for its source.

If I receive a single blow, it is not so bad. But if I am struck again and again, I begin to reflect: Why is this happening, where is it coming from, who is causing me pain, and how can I resist it? All these blows somehow affect my desire to receive, which wants to enjoy. Through this, I become wiser, I gain understanding, and I come to recognize the evil of the egoism. The awareness of evil is the mind standing beside the heart.

I begin to learn, gain experience, and study what these blows are, why I received them, and what they change within me. I become like a patient studying his illness.

There are patients who know their illness better than their doctor. A doctor must specialize in thousands of diseases, most of which he has never experienced. But a patient has only one illness and may read thousands of books about it. Such a person can sometimes advise you better than any doctor.

What can be done? It is impossible to help a random person off the street. At the moment, he is under the fire of suffering. This fire must strike him more than once until it forms not only the desire to escape suffering, but also the desire to seek a way out of pain and blows.

At first, I am not capable of this; I only want to run away from suffering, to hide from the blows. But then I begin to see that I cannot escape them, that there is no way to retreat. And so, during periods of suffering, and especially during moments of relief, I begin to search for how to avoid these situations in the future.

Alongside the terrible feeling of suffering, I begin to grow wiser. It is as if I acquire a mind through which I search for ways to free myself from suffering so as not to experience such torment again. The blows intensify, and each one is heavier than the last. It is like the Ten Plagues of Egypt, where each plague was worse than the previous one.

This continues until I uncover the true cause behind the blows themselves. And in suffering, I begin to feel the one who sends them. This is a connection with the divine.
[354873]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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Enjoyment from the Spiritual Path

238.01Question: If I derive enjoyment from working for the friends in the group, is there any point in trying to suppress this enjoyment, as if to say, “I am enjoying myself, but I do not want to enjoy it”?

Answer: One must not suppress enjoyment, whatever it may be, especially the kind that comes to you along the path of spiritual work. Instead of simply enjoying what you have, you should examine where this enjoyment comes from and strive for enjoyment from the path itself, from the similarity of qualities to the one you wish to resemble, to whom you are drawing closer.

Enjoyment is the goal, but the question is what kind of enjoyment it is. The thought “to delight the created beings” is both the beginning and the end of creation.

If you want to attain the Creator, you must get to the feeling that the Torah is the science of life. Baal HaSulam explains this in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. It is not enough to merely perform acts of bestowal; you must enjoy them and receive fulfillment from the highest light. If a person suffers while walking this path, it means that he is under the control of the Klipot and not under the control of holiness.

Every moment a person suffers, they are disconnected from the Creator. After all, if the Creator is the source of pleasure, how can you suffer and still be connected to that source? It cannot be.

Any corrected state must be filled with enjoyment.
[354449]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/26, Rabash, “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work”

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Acquire the Quality of Mercy

608.02The desire to receive constitutes the entire matter of creation. But until it is corrected by the quality of Bina and transformed into an intention for the sake of bestowal, it cannot be properly used and brought to perfection and eternity.

Therefore, Abraham, who was the first to achieve this correction, is called the “father of the people.” He received an additional letter “Hey” (“H”) to the name “Avram,” which indicates that he received the property of Bina.

His property is called mercy (Hesed). When Bina, which pertains to the three upper Sefirot (GAR), transmits its property to the seven lower Sefirot (ZAT), to the receiving vessels of the lower one, then its property is defined as mercy. This is what one must acquire in order to correct the Kli of one’s soul.

We measure a person’s spiritual level and one’s capacity to receive for the sake of bestowal by the extent one attains the correction of Bina on their Malchut. In other words, everything is measured, not by Malchut, but by how much it can be used in accordance with the correction of Bina in it.

In order to bring creation to its state of correction, the vessels were broken (the shattering of the vessels); as a result all the properties of Bina were incorporated into the properties of Malchut and intermixed. In every part of Malchut the attribute of Bina is present to the extent that Malchut is capable of perceiving and acquiring this property in a beneficial way.

This intermixing must reach the lowest degree, because this is the only way to identify and correct Malchut so that, in each of its states and desires, it would use the property of Bina to acquire its character.

Therefore, instead of counting Bina as its own (acting as a Klipa and using holiness in order to receive), Malchut does something different, it adheres to Bina initially using only Bina’s forces, and only subsequently assimilates the properties of Bina, giving for the sake of giving and then receiving for the sake of giving.

Thus, a person must reveal and implement the correct use of Bina. In other words, one must acquire the property of mercy and make it more important, above all other properties, attributes, and distinguishable characteristics. This, in essence, is the entirety of a person’s work.

Then it becomes evident that the desire to receive was created as a means of reaching the level of the Creator, because with all its might it joins to the property of mercy, the property of Bina, to the property of the Creator, bestowal. Malchut, by adhering to Bina, reaches Keter by using the property of Bina to the fullest capacity.

We observe that the process of including Malchut in Bina, beyond being our whole path and the sum of our work, also refers to the instruction the Creator gives Abraham: “Go forth.” A person who receives the addition of Bina to their nature now has the opportunity to work, since they have both means, and only by working correctly with them can they achieve the goal of creation.
[354320]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/26, Rabash, “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”

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From the Sense of Shame

548.03Question: Why does the created being build a new Kli known as reflected light?

Answer: Malchut of the world of infinity sensed the disparity between itself and the upper light; it felt how exalted He is. Furthermore, while receiving pleasure from Him, it perceives its own oppositeness to the light, which brings a feeling of separation with it, a realization it is unlike Him. This leads it to the restriction (Tzimtzum).

We refer to this sensation as shame. There is a very profound meaning concealed within this, but it is difficult and not always possible to express in words. Yet, it is precisely from this sense of shame that Malchut generates all subsequent actions, starting from the state in the world of infinity when it signals its readiness to perform the first restriction, all the way to the moment it completes the entire process and returns to the state of the final correction, to the state of infinity, once filled with light, but this time in a vessel of reflected light.

This initial sense of shame serves to activate and sustain all subsequent actions. That alone is sufficient. Indeed, everything that exists, from the world of infinity throughout the entire cycle leading back to Infinity, is that very same Malchut working behind the scenes on itself. Although it operates through various parts and states, it is Malchut performing the work.

On one hand, she orchestrates the shattering of the vessels so they fully experience and recognize the extent of all its deficiencies; on the other hand, Malchut integrates the first nine Sefirot that are in it to correct its relationship with the upper light.

It follows that it performs all actions for the sole purpose of restoring itself to the state of infinity. Now, the state of infinity is attained through its own initiative, from a state of absolute oppositeness. Malchut itself chooses the state of infinity, and in doing so, elevates the Creator to the exalted stature of the giver.
[354592]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”

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If You Want to Win Something in Life…

567A person on the spiritual path goes through various states. I remember how my teacher, Rabash, sometimes could not see or hear anything around him, as if he were unconscious. It seemed like these were moments of disconnection from reality.

This does not happen to us. But we are talking about a very practical, very realistic person who worked his whole life: at times as a shoemaker, at times in a tax office, and at times in construction.

He was not some kind of mystic or philosopher, or even a programmer. He stood firmly on the ground with both feet. And you could see how he would literally lose himself. In every state, you must break through into reality; a clouded, hazy state is the worst. Don’t settle to hovering neither here nor there and simply dragging out an existence; that is the worst.

I often get angry at myself, which is not surprising given my character, and thanks to this, I come out of it. It is said: “In man, the good inclination will always be angry with the evil one.”

You provoke yourself to anger, you induce a certain state within yourself, and then you begin to reflect on it: maybe it is this way, maybe that, is it worth it or not? This is such-and-such state, this is such-and-such stage. This process occurs on all levels; the main thing is not to allow the next moment to be the same as the previous one.

If you see friends around you who can agree to waste moment after moment in this way, then run away from them. They will infect you with laziness, and this is a very big problem.

In one of his letters, Rabash writes about bad tailors and bad shoemakers who say: “Let the shoe or dress remain as it is, it is no big deal.”

This fellow says much the same thing, “Where are you rushing to? Why are you jumping? Look at yourself. Here I am, living calmly, and you, it is simply not serious.” You should simply run away from people like that, cut off contact, don’t look at them, and be influenced by them as little as possible.

For me, what matters is precisely what I see, not what he sees. Such a friend weakens me. I want to win something in life; it is vitally important. Everyone can demand this of another; we must build a society, and that means we must demand this.
[354758]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/26, Rabash, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”

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How Can We Help People Who Are Not Seeking Spirituality?

281.02Question: How can we help those people who are not walking the path of truth, who are not seeking spirituality?

Answer: I can only feel regret for people who do not feel what I feel. That is all. What else can I do for them?

I can only work to disseminate Kabbalah so that they too will feel a need for the Creator. I cannot simply feel compassion for the suffering masses because that is animalistic pity that has no spiritual goal.

And indeed, if I feel animalistic pity, it means I am not justifying the benevolent governance of the Creator. I must come to a state in which I am able to justify the blows sent by the Creator.

As for the masses, I help them recognize the Creator, the  one who executes the blows, within the blows themseleves. As soon as we attain the executor, sufferings turn into pleasures. But we must be able to explain this to the masses in an accessible way. We must build a process of presenting information about spirituality for the broad public.
[354904]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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