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.
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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”

Question: Are there ascents and descents in our state during the preparation period?

Answer: In our state there are also ascents and descents. I experience moments that are good and moments that are bad. I feel connected to the Creator at times and disconnected from Him at others. Sometimes I feel a need for Him, and at other times that I was indifferent to Him. Thus, I have various internal discernments (Avhanot), and now I need to put them in order.

This is called my “self,” my world. There is the “I” that desires to enjoy, and that possesses some attitude toward the Creator, when the Creator is significant or indifferent to me, when I bestow to Him or do not bestow, when I am ready to detach from Him or to connect with Him, or perhaps not ready. And so on. A person must begin to think about this, to live by this connection and this attitude—that is all.

If the Creator seems a little more hidden, closed, and vague for you now, that is why you have the friends. Practice with them. By working with them, you will undoubtedly see very quickly whether you think about them or not, whether it is important to you to fulfill them or not. What do you think about: that it should be good for them or for you, whether the effort is worthwhile or merely a hindrance to you.

You will immediately see that you need an awareness of the greatness of the goal, without which you would simply toss all your friends into the trash bin. You will immediately begin to feel that you are not suited for such a thing, and at once you acquire an inner discernment of what you lack.

All this applies if you wish to advance along this path. If you do not want to, then at least you are aware of it. This is a very effective “laboratory experiment.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Question: What exactly happens during the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine?

Answer: In the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine, I determine my attitude toward the desire to receive, toward my nature. I begin to see that I am under the power of this desire, how harmful its power is to me, and what I lose because of it.

In this world I might be winning and setting myself up quite nicely with the desire to receive, but at the same time I am losing spirituality. After all, if I begin to define the spiritual as bestowal, as drawing closer to the force of bestowal, as the measure of similarity to the giver, then a different assessment of the intention for the sake of reception arises, specifically, how detrimental it is to me if I wish to attain perfection and eternity.

And then it gradually becomes clear to me that the state I actually wish to attain is completely opposite to the one in which I find myself now. I do not like this state called spirituality! I simply hate it! How can one not hate it, for in it there is only bestowal, no thoughts about oneself at all. Who else am I supposed to think about? Perhaps about those people sitting around me here studying?! Where would such a desire suddenly come from?!

As a person makes an increasingly thorough assessment within their soul, they see how unattainable this is. So what is left for them to do?

This is how a person is brought closer to the truth. For a brief moment the truth is revealed to them; then they spend several months processing it and trying to banish those thoughts, yet, despite everything, it somehow continues to work within them.  Consequently, the next time around, they handle it a bit more easily; that is, they fear it slightly less and agree with it by one percent.

In time the concept of intention for the sake of bestowal will be revealed to them again, and they will once again experience shock: “To give to such an extent?! Not to think about myself at all?!”

Again, they try with all their might to flee from this thought, to block it out with everyday activities, to hide behind the work of dissemination, the study of books, anything at all. But gradually, certain internal shifts occur and he grows accustomed to the idea by another percent. “Could this really be true? What if this turns out to be the best state for me?” Nevertheless, he interprets it as follows: “I will give everything, but it will make me feel good.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Question: Can we expect a mass awakening at the still level of holiness now?

Answer: On a mass scale, this is impossible neither among the secular nor among the religious. What does “mass” mean? A million people, just like that? I do not think so.

It does not depend on us, but it will happen. At each stage there will be more in quantitative terms. For example, if this year a hundred people awaken, then next year there will be a thousand.

Question: So, we cannot do anything directly?

Answer: A direct transition to the masses is impossible. In any case, it will involve individuals, but thousands will emerge from these individuals. For example, out of half a million religious people in Israel, five percent may suddenly feel the need to engage in the inner part of the Torah, making it their primary focus. That is possible.

But these 25,000 people will be acting individually. Hasidism won’t come to you looking for a new path; that simply cannot happen. It is a matter of individual work. A specific religious group may seem to you as a unified whole, but the people within it are at different levels of spiritual development.

It will come; there will be a major crisis in the coming years.
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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”