Question: Why do Baal HaSulam and his predecessors place special emphasis on Passover?

Answer: Kabbalists never deal with history. In spirituality, there is no concept of time, which is the notion from which our understanding of various processes derives.

In spirituality, there are levels, degrees from this world leading to the end of correction, and each of the 620 degrees radiates a certain state into this world. All the states that exist in spirituality on these 620 degrees must also be realized in this world, and moreover, only once.

If something has already occurred on the inanimate level (Domem), that is, in the material world, then it does not need to be repeated a second time. For example, we physically were in Egypt, we exited Egypt, and now we do not need to repeat this. Everyone who now exits their inner Egypt into spirituality, into what is called the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel), does not need to do this physically, since we have already performed it in a physical form in previous incarnations.

However, in spirituality, there is no degree more significant than the very first one because ascending it is the most difficult. One must endure the Egyptian exile, the plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea (Final Sea,Yam Suf), the receiving of the Torah, 40 years of wandering in the desert, the seven nations and Amalek before entering the Land of Israel. This is a very difficult process.

In spirituality, if we view it from the perspective of the laws of time, ascending from one degree to another may take a relatively short time, whereas transitioning from the material world to spiritual requires years.

This is indeed a very unpleasant period for a person: he is in this world and still feels nothing and sees nothing of the spiritual world. There is nowhere in particular for one to run, yet a person holds themself in the darkness and needs all kinds of devices to prepare a little more, to add intention, to make an effort. One constantly needs some support to rely on.

But in spirituality, the path is already laid. There we see and feel that no one needs to persuade or strengthen you. Therefore, Kabbalists single out Passover because it stands directly before the most difficult decision, the one linked to the inner workings of each individual soul.

Any suffering a person experiences is, in essence, suffering from darkness, from the lack of light. Every impulse and every thought that has ever arisen in a person, joins the others. This accumulates not only now, when we sit with a book, but it pertains to the cumulative treasury of all our incarnations. Passover, in essence, draws a definitive line and pulls a person out from beneath the Machsom. That is why Passover is a symbol of such unique significance.

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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/26, Rabash, “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover”

Question: I have children, including twin boys. They enjoy hurting each other. Their usual state is one brother hurting the other; the offender derives pleasure and delight.

As I understand it, there are three states in Passover. The first is when we take pleasure in dominating others, when our ego, the Pharaoh within us, has a field day.

This is our ordinary state. When we feel that the ego devours and destroys all of us, and this becomes unbearable, the second stage begins, symbolized by matzah, the “bread of affliction.” You call this stage restriction. What is its essence?

Answer: Restriction means that I make a firm decision: I have no choice, I cannot continue to behave this way toward others. I must put an end to it and break free from the rule of my ego.

This stage includes the recognition of evil—that I am under the control of the ego—and the understanding that I have no choice, no other salvation but to exit it, to escape from it.

Question: And what do we do then? How do we relate to each other?

Answer: We—that is, many people within the people of Israel (let’s not speak about the whole world yet)—decide that we must rise above our ego, stop using it, and we strongly desire that this will happen. This is called the “recognition of evil.”

Question: What is the essence of this ascent?

Answer: We make every effort to stop using our ego; we compel ourselves to do so.

Question: Does this mean that our “food” becomes poor, like matzah?

Answer: One could say so.

Question: Now, after the stage of restriction, when we have “eaten matzah,” meaning we have forced ourselves to treat each other well, suddenly a new space is revealed to us. And after Passover the third stage begins, a time when we return to our ego again, but now we enjoy giving to one another and receive the joy of life from this.

Answer: Moreover, I begin to reveal life within the level of connection between us: the level of love and unity. This is what exiting Egypt and entering the upper world is. I reveal the force of bestowal and love, which is called Elokim, the Creator, the upper force.

This is not some image we imagine somewhere in the heavens, but the relationships between us. Within them, we feel a pleasure 620 times greater than before when we derived pleasure within our ego by exploiting others.

Now our pleasure lies in delighting others. And in this, we feel infinity. After all, how much can we enjoy within our ego? But in order to delight everyone, you have an infinite space.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matzah,” 3/27/15

Each new level we attain signifies that a person has corrected themself by rising to it, and has thereby fulfilled a commandment. Therefore, the number of levels corresponds to the number of commandments: 613 plus another 7 commandments instituted by the sages.

A person rises from degree to degree by virtue of the Exodus from Egypt; therefore, we attach the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt to many commandments, since it is the foundation that allows us to begin spiritual actions called “commandments.”

We are not speaking about the commandments known to us in the material world (simple movements of the hands, feet, or tongue), but about spiritual actions through which a person fills himself with the upper light.

In the absence of a screen (a spiritual filter that would allow the upper light to enter within us), for now we can draw it toward ourselves through the study of the books. It reaches us in the form of surrounding light that gradually purifies and corrects us. The same actions can be carried out not only through study, but also through real deeds.

On the holidays, such as Pesach (Passover), which brings us goodness, there are specific surrounding lights, and here the participation of a person in preparing the festive event is important, specifically physical participation, carried out in unison in the whole nation.

But in addition to the general participaction, we must have an intention: the desire to attain the essence of the holiday, to ascend to the level of Pesach, so that what the event known as the Exodus would actually happen to us. Depending on the correct direction of the pre‑holiday preparation and the sincerity of the intentions, a person can merit very great surrounding lights even at the stage of preparation for the celebration.

That is why we try so hard: everyone wants to take part in this work and loves it because it gives a greater spiritual result than study.

Baal HaSulam and all the Kabbalists who preceded him singled out Pesach and Sukkot from among all the holidays. Pesach corresponds to the exodus from this world into the spiritual, to entering eternity and perfection, which, in essence, everyone wants.

And Sukkot is the “cloud of His Glory,” that is, a cloud, a Sukkah, a shelter: All this is also surrounding light that comes to a person and corrects him. The principle remains unchanged; only the conditions in which a person’s soul is found change. Therefore, in our world these holidays, these spiritual states, manifest in various forms and modes of expression.

On Sukkot the surrounding light acts differently, because the soul is already on a higher level, whereas Passover is truly the exodus from our state to the light.

Therefore, every time a person takes part in lessons or in work, it is desirable not to forget that everything that happens to them, all their efforts, require an accompanying intention: one undertakes these actions in order to come out of this world into the spiritual world, to feel the upper reality. Then these efforts accumulate and bring a person the holiday of Passover.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/26, Rabash, “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover”

Our world is the world of consequences, the world of deeds and actions, whereas the upper world is the world of causes, the world of roots and decisions. A person is not elevated in the physical sense; rather, within his consciousness he simply begins to see the causes of everything that happens. This is known as the revelation of the spiritual, the revelation of the Creator.

Such a state is “Pesach,” from the word “Poseach,” to pass over, to skip. It is the result of the fact that the Creator “passed over” all the person’s actions and gathered only those deeds in which the person wanted to attain the spiritual.

Pharaoh (Paro) is our nature. Moses (Moshe) is that small force within us that wants to pull us into the upper world. All the disputes between Pharaoh and Moses are the inner work that a person performs, that one experiences within oneself. One’s heart is hardened. The further a person advances, the harder it becomes, until one comes to the ten Egyptian plagues, which are ordeals a person is obliged to go through.

These are truly unpleasant things. One must overcome them by constantly devising new strategies in search of strength to maintain the attraction to the spiritual, the goal, that not only does not shine brightly, but actually recedes into the shadows so much that a person stops seeing it, as if no longer desiring it. And all this happens through the hardening of the heart: Pharaoh appears greater, Egypt more attractive, and it no longer seems so terrible to live in this essentially animalistic world without any benefit.

This goes until the quantity of efforts that a person continuously makes transforms into a new quality, a quality that in turn continues to grow, and then the person merits the exodus from Egypt.

It is here that, in essence, the spiritual process begins, that a person ascends the first spiritual rung of Jacob’s ladder, the spiritual ladder comprised of 620 steps that leads to the end of correction. There is the level of the righteous, the level of the holy spirit, and the level of prophecy.

But even there, whenever one wishes to rise from one degree to another, a person cannot do without the same surrounding light, which comes to a person through study and inner work, just as here on the material level.

Our entire world is designated as the level preceding the spiritual world, but nevertheless it is a level. Therefore, the same principle is prevails there above it; the difference is that there, the light is already revealed, as are the forces of resistance and assistance, which enable the person to better understand and discern the nature of their actions.

Of course, each time, while on the lower degree, one does not understand the nature of the higher degree, and is compelled to go with eyes shut. But this is no longer as difficult as leaving this world for the spiritual levels. Therefore, the exodus from Egypt is the most difficult exodus, the “Exodus” with a capital “E”; and the subsequent exits from each lower degree to a higher one are simply steps.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/26, Rabash, “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover”