Baal HaSulam clearly distinguishes between the general and the particular Torah. “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses,” and the two should not touch each other or interfere in each other’s affairs. We are talking about a completely different Torah, a different approach, a different spirit. The entire course of life for us differs from that of the masses.

Within ourselves, within our thoughts, within our intention, we are constantly tormented by questions: “At what stage am I? What is happening to me?” And so on. Everything for us is internalized. For them, the external part rules: a constant intensification of external actions. And this is good; it is necessary. As long as there is no inner part, we engage in the external. This form of education was introduced by the Kabbalists.

Baal HaSulam writes that the destruction of the First Temple did not have such an profound impact, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, the very concept of Lishma (for the sake of the Creator) vanished without a trace. The surrounding light withdrew, and the Temple was destroyed. The destruction of the Temple means that this illumination was no longer present among the people.

It is the same with us. Sometimes, from the material you absorb, you experience a spiritual ascent, when it seems to you that you sense the Creator, that you have, as if, come back to life and are floating in the heavens.

And then suddenly you feel like a complete fool who has nothing and does not understand a single word. And yet, you have a distant illumination showing you that, compared with a good state, your present state is bad. But what will happen if even this illumination is taken away from you?

That is what happened during the destruction of the Temple. With the destruction of the First Temple, the illumination that had existed among the people, that allowed people to feel they were in spirituality and gave them a sense of inspiration and connection, departed. This illumination disappeared but left them its reverse side, which gave them a feeling of at least some connection with spirituality, a feeling that spirituality exists.

By proceeding from the opposite, people at least knew what Lishma was. Instead of the light of Mochin de Haya, which shone from afar during the time of the First Temple, now, during the time of the Second Temple, the light of Mochin de Neshama came to them. It also shone from afar, but nevertheless, it shone.

And after the destruction of the Second Temple, people lost the feeling that their state was bad compared with the light, and awareness of the meaning of Lishma disappeared. They found themselves in the state of a donkey that knows nothing. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the book A Sages Fruit, in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 254

How Is the Desire for Spirituality Structured During the Time of Preparation?

The desire for spirituality during the time of preparation is divided into two desires: a desire to enjoy spirituality for personal benefit alone, and a very small desire to bring pleasure to the Creator. That is, 99 percent Lo Lishma and one percent Lishma.

Although the Lishma is not through a screen, there is nevertheless something of it. Also, everything is still at the expense of the upper one. The upper one holds us in a state in which we have no screen. If we had a screen, we could actually use the quality of the screen, but during the time of preparation it disappears, returns, and disappears again.

When a person breaks free from egoism and crosses the Machsom, a period begins in which they receive the upper light to purify Galgalta ve Eynaim, that is, his finest desires: Aviut zero, one, and half of Aviut two, up to the middle of Binah—Shoresh, Aleph, and GAR de-Bet. All this takes place during the period from Passover to Shavuot. What does this mean?

The exodus from Egypt, Passover, is the crossing of the Machsom, the exit from egoism. It includes many transitions and states too. Can you imagine how many intermediate states a person must pass through before it can truly be said that he has passed through something? Afterward, he receives the light and purifies within himself 49 Sefirot up to the 50^th Sefira (the 50 gates of Binah) and enters Binah. Why 50? Is Binah not 40?

The letter “Mem” is a closed letter and symbolizes Binah, because Binah is, as it were, closed like Noah’s Ark. Its form resembles a closed box, a spiritual knot inside which only one quality is concentrated: complete bestowal, complete detachment from oneself. In such a case, a person fears nothing and nothing can influence him; he is above himself, without any connection to himself. Such qualities bring spiritual light to our egoism.

In this case, this box (that is, our soul, all our qualities) is filled with the light of Hassadim. This light of complete bestowal, of complete detachment from oneself is also called Noah’s Ark, because in this form, a person can save himself and is dependent on no one and nothing. He is not afraid of either a hurricane or a flood.

The flood, too, is caused by the forces of Binah (water). But this is water in which all of Malchut and all of Hochma are revealed, the entire light of Hochma and Malchut’s fierce desire. In other words, the flood is like a concentration of external and internal forces: from within, the forces of pure Binah; and from without, all the other forces, which are supposedly also included in Binah.

Binah is a very complex category. It builds the soul in such a way that, from within and from without, the soul is under these waters: from within, under the quality of pure Binah, complete bestowal; and from without, as if under qualities opposite to Binah, which make intense use of Hochma and Malchut. At the same time, the soul becomes stronger and acquires such qualities that it can later raise from within itself a light of Hassadim sufficient even to receive the light of Hochma “Al Menat Lehashpia,” “for the sake of the Creator.”

After all, Binah simply bestows; it wants nothing. But when it is hardened by passing through the flood, it develops such strength that it can even receive the light of Hochma. It is no longer afraid of anything.

When a person acquires the qualities of Binah, all his qualities say: “Naaseh ve-nishma”—that is, “we will accept the Torah and fulfill it”; we will correct egoism. For when the qualities of Binah, GE, are acquired, nothing yet happens to our original qualities; we simply acquire the qualities of Binah. Only afterward do we begin to work with the genuine qualities, with the qualities of Malchut.

Therefore, it is said that when the entire people gather (the person is described as a people, meaning that he consists of all kinds of qualities: men, women, children, and elders, all of these being qualities within a person) at Mount Sinai (Sinai comes from the word “Sinah,” hatred), that is, when hatred arises within him from the side of Binah toward the qualities of Malchut, then everyone, as it were, cries out with one voice: “We agree!” In other words, all the qualities of a person have already been purified and prepared to such an extent that they agree to accept Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is the method of working with egoistic qualities, from the word “Lekabel” (to receive), that is, how to receive the upper light, the light of Hochma, already in order to bestow. Then the state called “the giving of the Torah” arises, and in this way egoism itself is corrected.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

Question: If the right and left lines have to be balanced, how can one begin the work with one of them?

Answer: One should begin with the right line. From the state in which I am today, I ask myself: “Who am I and what am I?” If I simply think about myself in this way without any connection to spirituality, then I am merely a desire to receive that wants to enjoy the world surrounding it.

In this way, I can examine myself, be a good psychologist, physiologist, and, ultimately, observe nature while being a part of it. Nature is nature.

If I relate to nature in this way, it can be considered the left line, although it is not even a line yet, but simply nature itself. If I want to relate to everything that exists with understanding and awareness, from a spiritual perspective, then I have to position my “I” so that it has no relation to the Creator or to creation but is located between them, in the middle.

I must be completely neutral, independent of anything, seeing my animal nature with which I previously identified myself as if from the side. I observe: this is what exists, this is how I was born, and these are the qualities I have; this is me, as I imagined myself.

What is “I”? It is a kind of body with its thoughts and different qualities. The Creator gave me my qualities at birth. My thoughts and perceptions were given to me by my family, my environment at school and work, and all the people around me.

Is this me? No, this is not me! So where am I?! The moment I have clarified all this for myself, I want to build my “I.” Let’s build!

How can I build my “I”? After all, everything I have is not me! Everything I will receive from the Creator in the future will also not be me; it will be Him. So where am I?

We do not know what the middle line is. A person’s “I” is a Hissaron, a need that has never existed in reality. Therefore, the need to bestow upon the Creator is a desire that is, as it were, artificial; the Creator did not create it. A person must find it, create it, give birth to it.

I am the one who places himself in the right line. And now I need to decide what I do next. They say that first you must go in the right line. What does the right line mean? To look at whom you are dealing with, and what the nature of the Creator is. To see that He is great, giving, perfect, and wants to give you only reward for all your actions. Examine all these things and acquire faith in this.

What does it mean to acquire faith? It is a feeling as though you already have a sensation of His greatness and importance. As though… but you know that you are doing all this only “as though,” and you are not deceiving yourself. Working with the power of “as though,” you deceive yourself only in that it is as though this already exists. But this deception is accounted for; you know that you are deliberately deceiving yourself.

This is what Rabash writes: it is as though you have a feeling in every organ of your body that you have reached the sensation of the Creator, His importance, greatness, and desire to unite with Him, as though you are already directly in spirituality. And if you have already acquired this sensation, fooled yourself, outsmarted yourself, now go to the left and see what you need to do in the left line.

In the left line, naturally, the opposite state will be revealed to you: who am I, what am I, what is the nature of what the Creator has placed within me, that I do not exist, that I am a complete zero, and so on.

From these two things, we need to make such a connection, such a mixture, that will lead to a prayer. Neither line should prevail, but there must be a single Hissaron, a need, so that this Hissaron is as though this desire is me, and I want to be as perfect as He is. This means that both lines are united together in your prayer: all your deficiencies, the sensation of evil, insignificance from the left, and the sensation of greatness, the knowledge of the goodness of the Creator from the right.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”