Publications

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?”

In the News (“Loneliness will be the next great moneyspinner,” The Guardian):

“Isolation among young people is increasing, spawning a new industry in companionship. Soon paying for walks, dinners and dates will feel normal

“Chuck McCarthy, we heard last week, is an LA man who charges a per-mile rate to walk and talk with customers. Billed as a novel form of social interaction, his business is expanding – he now has five assistant walkers – and the service he offers is part of an emerging trend. Like others in what might be called the companionship industry, McCarthy is packaging up social connection into something we can buy.”

My Response: Indeed, even young people are becoming lonely, not to mention the elderly.

Once, we went to the cinema and to theaters. We went out into the street, and children grew up in the courtyard. Everything was completely different. We communicated with each other. I remember how I would jump out of bed in the morning and run outside to see my friends.

Today none of this exists, and it never will again. There are no courtyards; even in sandboxes, children play alone.

Question: So will there be an increasing demand for people-walkers?

Answer: I think that the “walker” will be needed by twenty-year-olds and thirty-year-olds, not by pensioners.

We are all becoming disabled by loneliness and will have a great need for human connection. Eventually, we will reach a state where we are forced to engage in direct face-to-face interaction because electronic contact cannot replace normal human emotional connection. And that is when we will finally have something to say to people.

Question: Do you think things will come full circle and physical interaction will return?

Answer: It will return, but not at same level. Now, it will be up to Kabbalists to “walk” people, to organize them into large circles.

This is the profession of the future: gathering large numbers of people in big halls, and working with them. Together they dance, sing, and discuss the nature of the world is and what they can learn and comprehend in their unity.

The most important thing is unity. This is precisely what people lack. But when one person walks another, it is all irrational and will quickly pass.

Such temporary fulfillment immediately disappears and leaves a void because people remain without the support of the next generation.

In general, everyone needs communication. That is our current program we are developing. It is intended for training specialists in communication; I would even say in unifying people.

This will be the most important profession—an instructor for uniting people into the system of “Adam”—because everything else will be done by machines. And this is what must be done by people.
[195063]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/27/24

Question: If I am going to perform an action of “If I am not for me, who is for me?”, where can I get the confidence that I will not enjoy it to the extent that I will disconnect from Him?

Answer: In his book A Sages Fruit, Baal HaSulam gives an example that in the morning a person should say: “If I am not for me, who is for me?” and in the evening, “There is none else besides Him.”

What does this mean? Suppose I am going to work now, and I am working hard; meaning, I am going to immerse myself in the desire to receive, sweat, and think that thanks to this effort I will get paid. Afterward, I examine the situation and realize that it is not me who is sweating and receiving payment, but rather, the Creator gives me the work and the earnings. In other words, the work lies not in what I actually do, but in how I relate to it.

If I change my attitude toward what I must do in life by recognizing that He is the one sending it to me, then I will feel neither the difficulty of connecting with Him nor the difficulty of performing any work because the “work” as such ceases to exist. Our difficulty lies in the challenge of forging a connection between ourselves, the purpose of creation, and the work that exists before me.

It is not difficult for a person to dig a hole all the way to the center of the earth. If through this action they remain connected with the Creator, they will receive endless energy and motivation. We do not understand that the problem is not the physical difficulties, but the fact that the action is not connected to the light, to the Creator.

If you connect with the Creator in every task, if the work becomes a purposeful action and begins to bring you the light from above and adhesion, then the light of adhesion will serve as your payment; and then instead of sweating during the action, you will be in the designated goal. The action itself will become the goal.

Therefore, our work embodied in the phrase“If I am not for me, who is for me?” lies in drawing closer to the one who is the cause of our work. In that state the work ceases to feel like labor. That is why, in the evening, after you have succeeded in unifying all this, you declare: “If I am not for me, who is for me?”

Of course, this does not refer to our literal mornings and evenings. Morning represents the intention where you act as Hafetz Hesed (desiring nothing for yourself), in Hassadim (Mercy) without Hochma (Wisdom). And in the evening, when there is no light, you receive Hochma and say: “If I am not for me, who is for me.” This signifies that you have brought this light to yourself, through your own effort.

In the morning the light comes through the Creator, while in the evening, even in darkness, light becomes possible through your own effort.

In life we often find it difficult to perform a task, perhaps we are weary or harbor some resistance to it and find it burdensome. Yet, if I attach a sense of purpose to this action, it becomes easy to perform. I sort of forget about the action itself; it becomes merely a means to connect with what I am currently united with—a means for achieving the goal.

Therefore, we should not pay attention to what is happening to us; rather, we should concentrate on our attitude toward what is happening.
[359631]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 221

Does the Creator Bestow Upon Us the State of Final Correction?

The Creator bestows upon us as though we were already in the state of final correction, and indeed we are in the state of final correction. It only seems to us that we are not. In other words, the “as though we were” applies to our perception, not to the state of final correction itself. Final correction is the only state that actually exists, and we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are outside of final correction. This illusion stems from the numbness of our senses. Therefore, we need to correct our senses in order to feel the place in which we already exist.

RABASH compares this to an unconscious person who gradually rises and regains consciousness. This “return to consciousness” consists of the 125 degrees, through which the states gradually become clarified to him, until he reaches the state in which he truly exists. It continues until his awareness and the state in which he exists become one and the same.

Comment: It seems that there is a certain atmosphere of glorifying suffering in our group. Even in the articles, it is not emphasized enough that suffering is a Klipa.

My Response: We are obliged to fight against suffering. We must emphasize that suffering is the opposite of the light and comes as a result of our seeing its reverse side (Achoraim).

We are not corrected enough to see the light, and when a little more light is poured upon us, we feel only its reverse side. Because a vessel that is opposite to the light experiences its opposite. If the light were truly to come to me now, I would feel such darkness that it would be impossible to escape from it.

This can be compared to a starving person who suddenly finds himself at a feast given by wealthy people. He has not seen even a crust of bread for a week, and here there is such an abundance of food that it is almost lying underfoot. Would he experience pleasure from it? No, he would feel even greater suffering. Previously, he thought that everyone in the world lived as he did, that it was not so terrible and could somehow be endured. But when he sees such abundance, his own life suddenly appears horrible to him.

Therefore, we must understand that all these opposite impressions come to us because of the lack of correction of our vessels. However, in any case, I do not think that the articles fail to explain that one must not sink into gloom, give in to states of despair, heaviness, or a feeling of helplessness. I think this is written about in all the articles.

And these reminders seem insufficient to you because you want to see them constantly before your eyes precisely because this is the state into which you are continually being drawn.
[359717]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, 1989 “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

Question: How can I know whether the attitude I bring into the group is correct? If my future depends on what I contribute to it, how can I be sure that I am contributing something correct?

Answer: You are asking: what actions toward the group on your part will be unequivocally good? How can you avoid leading it astray? Even from an egoistic point of view, this can affect you in unpredictable ways. If only you make a mistake, is one thing; but if you mislead a thousand people, it all comes back to you, and how it returns! Is that the question?

Comment: It is not so much that I am misleading them, but rather that I am doing anything useful.

My Response: Doing nothing is tantamount to misleading them. Baal HaSulam writes about this in “The Giving of the Torah,” and there is nothing more to say on the matter.

How might I mislead or not lead my friends or avoid doing so? If I evoke enthusiasm in them based on things other than the greatness of the Creator, this is a sign that I am misleading them. Then the question arises: Does it mean I shouldn’t say a word to them other than, “The Creator is great,” “Glory to God,” or “With God’s help”? Shall we speak only like that?

No. However, it must be clear to all my friends that my attitude toward them is conditioned by the greatness of the Creator, and I want this to be present in them, in me, and in the group. Otherwise, I wouldn’t address them, wouldn’t demand anything from them, and I wouldn’t be here at all.

Question: How can this be clear?

Answer: Let them feel it. Let them feel. It is very simple. It need not even be expressed in words, no. If only between the lines in messages and telephone conversations, that is perfectly normal.

However, you understand that a certain transmission of force, of enthusiasm, is necessary; a certain message of bestowal from one to another, when, regardless of my desire, I as if spread my attitude toward the Creator onto the friend, and the friend feels this.
[360772]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

Question: As a person advances, do their natural qualities grow, hindering them and forcing them to overcome them?

Answer: Egoism grows in a person who is advancing. All of their natural qualities remain within them, but as their desire to receive increases, another factor also grows within them—their connection with the Creator.

Therefore, one begins to use all of their natural qualities in relation to the Creator.

Depending on this, these qualities change, and then the way their pride, impatience, and laziness are expressed becomes completely different.

Question: But do they increase as obstacles?

Answer: I do not perceive them as obstacles. Why do you think that laziness is an obstacle? Laziness is an exact calculation within the desire to receive: what is worth making an effort for?
[359624]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?”

Question: How do I know whether I am giving the group the awareness of the importance of the goal? For example, I have this thought. How can I check whether this really affects the group?

Answer: It is written: “All that is in your hands and in your power to do, that do.” Only this is meant: not that you do everything that comes to mind, but that you work specifically toward that end. All that is in your hands and in your power to do, do it in order to increase the importance of the Creator.

Question: This is clear. But perhaps time is being wasted, is being spent inefficiently?

Answer: Since all that depends on us is the acceleration of time, its shortening, condensation, and compression, our negligence, conversely, leads to the prolongation of time. This is the whole point.

How can you know whether you are wasting time or not? If you constantly maintain a state of enthusiasm regarding the Creator, an enthusiasm stemming from the knowledge that you want to be connected to Him rather than a pleasant sensation; if an ascent for you means connection with the Creator rather than a feeling of fulfillment—then you are acting correctly.

And if the sensation of the Creator constitutes fulfillment for you, then the question becomes what kind of sensation is it—one for the sake of receiving or for the sake of bestowing? If it is for the sake of receiving, I might feel calm, as if nothing more is needed. I feel good with this sensation of the Creator.

If, however, it is a sensation in which I already think a little about Him for the sake of bestowal, then I must immediately have a Hisaron, a need. Am I bestowing? What am I bestowing? How am I bestowing? Does He truly feel me? And so on.

Then you begin to feel a different Kli within yourself, a Kli that is within Him, which joins your point in the heart. Because your point in the heart is a point foreign to the heart, inside it. It is called the quality of Israel, whereas the heart is called “the nations of the world.”

Israel does not belong to this world. These are Galgalta Eynaim, vessels of bestowal; they are not counted among the nations of the world.
[360768]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

Comment: Please give me a real-life example to clearly explain the work in two lines.

My Response: Start working, and you will see. What other example do you need?

For instance, if I am in a certain state and I suddenly stop myself and ask, “Where am I?” I have stopped myself: What is here? There is the Creator, the goal, importance, adhesion, the desire to please creation, rewards and punishments. All this speaks to what I know and understand about Him.

I thought about it, got an impression, and now I move to the left line. At the same time, I understand all His advantages in comparison to what I see, imagine, and feel about myself. I start comparing one thing to the other, aligning them, and in any comparison I make, I try to keep the balance between us so the prayer can arise from this state.

With all my bad qualities, I want to stand, as if, facing the Creator, facing His positive qualities. Start by connecting these things within yourself in just such a simple way. This way, In this manner, you can, as it were, hold yourself in the middle between the right and left lines.

Just as children build a sand castle on the seashore, so we begin to imagine that we are actually building a real house. Try to see how you can keep yourself in a constant state when all this is present together: me, my goal to be like the Creator, and the parameters He gave me on the right and left, so that it all comes together, one not prevailing over another, keeping the situation under control every time.

Later, you will get used to maintaining this inner state you are building. It will change every minute, and you will rebuild it every minute. It will change again, and you will build it again, direct it like a rocket flying toward a chosen target.

Then you will learn how to maintain this balance in a variety of life states: at the store, at work, at school—no matter where or how. Try it; you asked for a real–life example; there it is.
[360657]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 220

What Does It Mean That the Creator Relates to Us as Though We Are Already in the State of Final Correction?

We are indeed with the Creator in the best and most perfect state possible, but that state is concealed from us behind 125 coverings. There, somewhere in the state of final correction, the Creator relates to us through 125 coverings. We experience the Creator’s attitude through those 125 coverings, which weaken that attitude to such an extent that we even reverse it. Thus, from the Creator’s perspective, we are perfect, while only from our own perspective are we corrupted.

This means that self-correction is for our own benefit. By correcting ourselves, we are not doing the Creator any favor whatsoever.

We learn from sufferings that the desire to receive feels within itself. That is, we have not yet exited into spirituality; we merely think that spirituality is good because we cannot escape from the blows otherwise. This is still a completely material state!

Be that as it may, through this work I draw closer to wanting to rid myself of my desire to receive, to free myself from the need to think about myself, because even the slightest thought about myself causes me immense suffering.

I am afraid to think about myself, just as a kleptomaniac is afraid to steal. He loves to steal, and can do nothing about it; this is his nature. There are very great, very rich people who simply cannot live without it. They go into a store and must steal at least some small thing. This is what fills them; they are unable to restrain themselves.

They could easily pay a million dollars for the item. But having paid a million dollars and receiving this thing, they would not feel pleasure. Their pleasure is precisely in the fact that they steal it. A person knows that he will not be able to restrain himself. And so it continues until his horror reaches such proportions that he must flee from his desire to receive, otherwise he will inevitably be caught or face death.

All this still takes place within the desire to receive. But hatred toward it, as it were, distances a person from this desire. And then a miracle occurs—the miracle of the exodus from Egypt. This is carried out at night, in deep darkness, in complete misunderstanding of what is happening, when a person does not see what is happening to him or how.

And so it is at every degree. Every transition from one degree to another, every new state that comes to a person, occurs at a time when he understands nothing, is unfamiliar with this new state, and is confused. But after all this confusion and inability to orient himself, a new, more enlightened state arrives.

In the end, you yourself begin to seek this, and to expect it within the same desire to receive; you become confused, lose your way, and lose your bearings, only so that along with this a new, better state may come. Nevertheless you still want this in your desire to receive.

And when a person truly comes to what is considered “the exodus from Egypt,” this is called a miracle. For this is a state that a person himself cannot create in any way, since it is a borderline state between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. A “cut” passes through it to infinity, to the point of “something from nothing,” and therefore it is called the splitting of the “the final sea” (Red Sea).

The final sea is not our tiny desire to receive that separates us from the spiritual world. “Yam,” “sea,” is the final Kli of Hochma, including all of its “final letters,” all of Malchut; to such a depth does this cut extend. A person crosses it, and only afterward is it revealed to him what he has passed through. This is the most perfect miracle.
[360626]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Question: What does acquiring the true power of faith mean?

Answer: It means that everything that awakens within me, even if it is opposite to the Creator, even if it is uncorrected, I will be able to correct with the help of the power of faith. The power of faith is the sensation of the divine, the sensation of perfection, the sensation of eternity, the sensation of the importance of bestowal for the sake of bestowal. Everything that we feel in spirituality or in the Creator is the quality of bestowal.

Now everything that seems to you to be something good, warm, soft, gentle—I do not know exactly how you feel it—everything that you define as good for yourself, translate all of it into one single word: giver. Not something that gives to you, but precisely the quality of bestowal.

It is something soft, gentle, good, but not in relation to myself, where I am the receiving side, but rather this is the quality itself. And if I want this quality, then this is how I must be. That is, to take upon myself the quality of the giver—to be a giver and to feel what I perceive, as we say, as gentle, warm, good. It is the same thing.
[360711]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

Question: If you ask the Creator for something, must you ask only for what you want to receive without specifying the way in which to receive it?

Answer: If a person asks the Creator for something while also dictating how they want to receive it—as if to say, “Help me in this or that specific way,” it means they are setting conditions for the Creator. But do you even have the wisdom to ask for something, assuming, of course, you know what to ask for?

If you ask for something that helps you in your advancement, then, of course, you receive an answer. If you ask for something that is not quite correct, then either you receive no answer at all or you receive something that certainly advances you, but it is not at all what you would have wished for.

Therefore, the correct prayer is a prayer without any conditions, when I ask for what in His eyes is advancement. And whatever I receive, however much I receive, I will accept it all as advancement. But if you already have such a desire, what is left for you ask for? After all, the specific nature of what you receive s no longer important to you since you believe that it represents advancement.

Question: How can one ask the Creator for the surrounding light, the light of AB-SAG?

Answer: In what way can you ask the Creator for the light of AB-SAG?! How do you even know what this is?

We study what the Kli (vessel) asks for. But the Kli asks because it is already in the spiritual world. And there, prayer must exactly correspond to the state of the Kli.

Question: But I do not feel this, so how can I be in connection with the Creator?

Answer: Indeed, you cannot be in connection with Him, in connection with the truth. Not now. But after the Machsom you will have a certain measure of fusion with the Creator—small, like an embryo, or a little more. And then, in accordance with this, you clarify the Kli at each step. You know in what state you are; you know what is the Achoraim (back side) of the upper, which now wants to raise you and can perform certain actions upon you.

Advancement is fully controlled, and knowledge is present in it. One goes, of course, above knowledge, but knowledge itself exists. You are on a certain spiritual degree, which is your knowledge, that is, the measure of filling the Kli with light, the measure of revealing your connection with the Creator, with the soul. And you go above this.

But at the same time, you have an attachment to the vessels, to the light. “Above reason” does not mean that knowledge itself does not exist. This is how it happens with us. We know nothing about our current state. And we struggle to imagine the subsequent states.
[359882]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

Question: If the quality of bestowal is itself a pleasure, then what constitutes its fulfillment?

Answer: Bestowal is the fulfillment; nothing else is required. If I bestow, I derive pleasure. Of course, to exist on the level of the giver, I need to know to whom I am bestowing and how He derives pleasure from my act of bestowal. In other words, I must incorporate His Kelim (vessels) and His Hisaronot (deficiencies) within myself.

I must unite with the Creator and acquire all His Kelim, all the pleasures that exist in Him by virtue of Him filling me. It is like a child who has reached the mother’s level and feels everything that exists within her in relation to him—both in the Kelim and in the pleasures, how she experiences them in relation to him, how she receives everything from him and derives one hundred percent pleasure from him.

In other words, by wanting to return even the smallest pleasure to the Creator, the created being must attain the Creator in all His greatness.

The quality of bestowal seems to be something insignificant to us, as though someone simply gives and thinks of nothing else. On the contrary, the form of bestowal obligates a person to attain enormous Kelim, whereas the form of reception does not. This is because during reception, the Kelim become closed off and no longer want anything more: “I’ve already had enough; I feel good as I am.”

The Kli already begins to fear that it will disappear, because it is imprinted by the pleasure it desires, and a greater pleasure (unless a new Kli is awakened) extinguishes it.

Thus, it is precisely the form of bestowal that obligates a person to grow without limit, continuously, and to remain in a constant state of ascent.
[359498]
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?”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 219

How Can We Bestow If There Is No Connection to the Creator? To Whom Is This Desire Attributed?

The desire to bestow is not attributed to the person. Suppose we could perform some action like making ourselves a sandwich, enjoying it, and attributing that pleasure to the Creator: “You, the Host, created this entire world for me and brought me to enjoy this sandwich. I would like to feel You so that I could show You how much I enjoy the sandwich. But in truth, it is not the sandwich itself that I enjoy. Rather, I enjoy the feeling that You prepared this for me.” In other words, we reach a state where we lack something, where we need to feel the Creator so that we have someone to thank.

We can begin with this and see that the Creator will reveal Himself. Even if we merely think about thanking the Creator, He will reveal Himself. The Creator is ready for this, because it is truly for the sake of bestowal, regardless of the fact that it concerns nothing more than a simple sandwich.

The writing says, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God, for you have failed in your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity and take good, and we will pay with the fruit of our lips’” (Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”).

What does “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” mean in spiritual work? It refers to an instruction that is, in essence, the original goal that must be realized throughout the entire path, so that a person reaches his root and becomes completely realized in it: “unto the Lord your God.”

What does “unto the Lord your God” mean? It means that all of a person’s qualities come to equivalence of form with the qualities of the Creator. This is called return, repentance: “Return, O Israel.”

In Hebrew, the word “Israel” can be understood as Yashar-El, straight to God. Therefore, one who is called “Israel” must reach a state in which he returns each of the desires that constitute his soul to the Creator, that is, he acquires a screen and works with that desire with the intention to bestow.

A person already possesses all these desires. Gradually, by acquiring a screen, the intention to bestow, he returns them to the form that belongs to the Creator.

This is what it means that he returns until he reaches “the Lord your God,” thereby acquiring the same form, the same image, the same abilities, and the same attainment that the Creator reveals to him. They become, as it were, partners existing on the same level, like Zeir Anpin and Nukva of the world of Atzilut, which are on the same level in continuous face-to-face adhesion. This is the purpose of correction.

Then, after correcting this entire soul, these receiving vessels that he possesses, a person rises into the first three Sefirot (GAR). What does this mean?

A person rises above his body, which has already been corrected, and begins to attain the Creator’s thoughts, His desires and intentions that preceded the Creator’s attitude toward him, that is, preceded his creation by the Creator. These are called the “three upper Sefirot,” and the lights revealed in the vessels of the three upper Sefirot are called the “secrets of the Torah.” On the other hand, all the lights revealed in a person’s corrected vessels are called the “flavors of the Torah.”

In spiritually, “man” (Adam) is the Partzuf MA, meaning the lower seven Sefirot (ZAT), in other words, Zeir Anpin and Nukva together. And the ones above ZAT, the three upper Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, and Binah, and the lights revealed within them are the secrets of the Torah.

The lights revealed in the seven lower Sefirot are called the flavors of the Torah.

Therefore, until a person has attained return to the Creator with his entire soul and all his might, that is, until he has corrected all his vessels and filled them with all the lights so that all the flavors are revealed, he is forbidden to touch the secrets of the Torah. They are above him; this is a higher degree.

It is written that they should be concealed rather than revealed. Only one who has “filled his belly with Talmud and laws,” meaning with the flavors of the Torah, and has risen to a higher degree, comes to study the three upper Sefirot, the secrets of the Torah, which are called the foundations of receiving, the roots of the receiver.

Therefore, while a person is undergoing corrections on the way to the end of correction, the reward for revealing the flavors of the Torah is very great. But the reward for concealing the secrets of the Torah is also very great, because a person does not fail along the way: He conceals the part whose time has not yet come and reveals the part that he is capable of correcting.

Those who have already completed the entire part of the flavors of the Torah move on to the part of the secrets of the Torah, which is referred to as “at the age of over forty.”

This occurs according to special, known laws, when a person has already acquired the entire Masach, all the qualities of Binah above his desire to receive, above Malchut, and has thereby truly corrected the entire Malchut with the intention to bestow.

Then he reaches what is called “middle age” [literally, “stable age”], meaning that he stands at his full height, having filled all his vessels with receiving in order to bestow. From “forty years” onward, he begins to rise toward the secrets of the Torah, truly meriting the Lights of the three upper Sefirot and attaining the Creator’s intentions.

Before that, the purpose of our efforts is unknown to us. We cannot understand, attain, or clarify what the Creator’s intentions toward creation are for ourselves.

In order to formulate this somehow, we say that His desire is to do good to His creations; that He created them in order to delight them; that He had a desire to reveal Himself, to dwell within the lower ones, and that He created them in order to fill them, as if to enter into them and reveal Himself within them.

Even our Kelim (vessels) understand that these answers do not satisfy us. These answers will become genuine answers only in the Lights of the three upper Sefirot. However, the very fact that we are able to ask these questions already tell us that one day we will receive the answer.

After all, all questions arise from empty Kelim, which were created by the light, the fulfillment that preceded the Kli. And, of course, this fulfillment will eventually fill the Kli. Therefore, at some stage, our questions will be filled with answers, with lights.

Thus, the instruction “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” must be fulfilled in every person.
[360445]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Comment: Almost everyone who studies Kabbalah with us came from secular rather than religious backgrounds.

My Response: We should not confuse the two paths—what is incumbent upon me and what the Creator will do. I am not in control of what comes from above, but I do know what I must do from below. So from below I prefer to be Jewish. What does “Jewish” mean? In one way or another, to belong to the Jewish people in the national sense.

I am not saying that a person must look like someone from an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem, and adopt that specific attitude to the country, the army, and his responsibilities to the state. However, one still needs to live within the same framework as the people, and our people have no other framework apart from what is called “heritage.” In one form or another, this is necessary.

Suppose someone comes here who has no idea what Passover, Sukkot, or the other holidays are, who knows nothing at all. We need a little more than that. This is what I am talking about, and not about becoming ultra-Orthodox.

Question: To be “traditional”?

Answer: “Traditional,” but genuinely so. The problem with being “traditional” is that the parents are traditional, while the person himself has absolutely no understanding of it. He only does his parents a favor by coming for the holidays. And then the third generation is completely lost.

In short, a person is a “beast.” If he wants to become a human being, fine; we will help him become one. But as a “beast,” it is better for him to be in a good “herd,” in an enclosed place and under good protection. Then he will be well. You can see what happens to people when an entire generation has no boundaries. Look at what is happening.

Do you really think that through their “free development” they have achieved something? Nothing. They think they have brought about a flourishing. What flourishing? There is nothing there. They think that thanks to this they can bring something new to humanity. Nothing will come of it. What else can a person extract from his own skull? What kind of development is this? Nothing is actually happening to them. Ultimately, it leads to prostitution and drugs.

If you could only show me some other solution, but there isn’t one. According to Kabbalah, there isn’t one either. There is nothing for a person to seek in a secular way of life. Nor is there anything to seek in a religious way of life. Rather, a person simply needs to be kept within certain boundaries. You will see how entire nations maintain such boundaries. We are simply unable to do so because our desire to receive is greater.

Do you think anything goes in America? You have no idea what the system is like there. Compare Israeli and American films. American films are full of pride, ideals, and the glorification of America above everything else. Look at the extent to which they are committed to this. Their films are similar to Soviet films, except that they present it in such a form that you do not notice it.

Go to Europe. Do you think you can do whatever you want there? The moral doctrines governing everything are very strict.

With us, however, it is the worst because everyone’s desire to receive is a thousand times greater than that of some gentile abroad. Therefore, an evil arises that can no longer be contained.

In short, a person is a “beast,” and it needs protection for its own benefit. Previous generations have already become convinced of this. I am not saying anything new. In my time there was the generation of the Beatles and the hippies, and what remains of them? What did they accomplish? Nothing. People remained hippies until the age of 30 to 35, and what happened to them? Those who succeeded eventually turned to drugs, while the others suddenly discovered that they had neither a home nor a job, while the rest of the world had moved forward. The same thing is happening with those we are helping break free from drugs.

I am not saying that religious frameworks are necessarily a good thing. I am saying that people nevertheless need some kind of boundaries and some kind of structure. That is essential. After all, we have already been down that road before.
[360653]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal AreaSign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

PublicationsArticles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of KabbalahThe content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.