“Israel” and the “Torah” are the same thing. 

[Initially the Torah is an instruction for correcting evil, called 613 pieces of advice for correcting 613 parts of egoism.]

1) The Torah is regarded as 613 counsels, 613 tips for subduing the evil.

[And after the correction, the Torah is the portions of the Creator’s light corresponding to each of the 613 corrected organs of the soul.]

It follows that while performing the Mitzva, one extends to its corresponding organ in his soul and body the degree of light that belongs to that organ and tendon (Rabash, “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”).

Question: How can one most simply explain to a person what Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are, and what the meaning of their unity is?

Answer: We exist in an unchanging state, as it is said: “I did not change.”

This single state is called Malchut of the world of infinity. The Creator, who wished to bestow goodness upon the creation, made it in a matching state of benevolence.

But in order to feel this beneficence, creation needs to go through various transformations that develop  desire and appetite, that cause despair, troubles, and agitation within it, in other words, that cause sensations opposite to the sensation of the good who does good. Otherwise, creation would not sense Him.

However, so that the sensations of the good who does good, as well as their opposites, would not strike creation like a double blow, the Creator arranged it so that we gather unpleasant sensations drop by drop, gradually, in small portions. “Ouch!” and that’s enough. Again “Ouch!” and that’s enough. Thus, we move along the path, clarify our desire, and learn what is good and what is bad.

Overall, we must be sensitive and receptive to good and evil. The more sensitive a person is to recognizing evil, the higher their degree and the deeper they penetrate into the substance of creation.

Therefore, in the unchanging state that the Creator made, the desire to delight for the sake of bestowal already exists that is corrected by the proper intention, as well as the light that fills this desire and intention. There they are all united without any distinction. This state is called “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

Israel (ישראל) is a vessel, a Kli, with the intention to bestow to the Creator, in other words, “straight to the Creator,” Yashar-El (ישר-אל). The Torah is the entire light that corrects and fills it. And they are one because they have reached a state in which they are completely equal and exist in adhesion.

Equality and adhesion between the Creator and the creation is the only form in which they exist. Each creature gradually reveals this form once the desire to reveal it awakens within.

By revealing emptiness in our current state and in the matters of this world, the Creator gradually leads us to a sense of emptiness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness of our life. At the same time, He awakens the beginning of a spiritual Kli, the seed of recognizing evil, within us. My state is miserable not because it is dull in taste, but because I lack adhesion with the Creator.

I realize this gradually. At first, I do not understand at all what I need, like a child who doesn’t know why he cries. But little by little the details emerge, become clearer, appear within me, and I begin to hear something.

Then I come to a group, to a teacher, and for several years I undergo the influence of the light in various states that I experience together with the teacher, the books, and the group. The process continues, and I become slightly more sensitive to recognizing evil. And the evil lies in the fact that I do not want to connect to the books, the teacher, and the group. When I begin to feel that this is precisely my evil, then I take the correct course toward correction.

At the same time, I understand that I must unite with the friends, receive awakening from them, acquire their mind and feelings, merge into them. I include myself in them, in their desires and intentions directed toward the goal. And for this inclusion, I must draw the light that returns to the source; in other words, I need to study together with them and attract the light.

If this occurs, I accumulate the necessary amount and quality of effort and come to the correction of my vessels.

Naturally, this process consists of a whole series of actions. I cannot withstand major corrections or big leaps all at once. Therefore, there are many degrees, divided into steps and sub-steps through which I reach the state of which it is said: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” I already exist in this state, but it reveals itself within me gradually.

We could not bear everything at once, because this unity is too opposite to our nature.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Rabash “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”

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Question: Suppose a person feels that they lack some quality in order to advance. Can it be acquired?

Answer: You have nothing to complain about. A person is structured in such a way that everything within them is ideal for their advancement, no more and no less. Precisely these qualities, even the very worst ones are what help a person.

Everyone has something of their own that seems negative, but in the end, you will see how this very quality, and even what appears as a deviation, is the most useful thing. After all, it is the result of the forces of the soul, and without this quality, one would not be able to correct it.

It does not matter what you feel along the way, all these things are useful. You are not required to figure out whether you have stopped advancing or not, you do not know that. Only one thing is required of you: to realize your freedom of choice. to draw from the group forces for advancement that are greater than those given to you by the Creator.

At first, we do not have such forces. We are given an initial push, the rest we must obtain from the group ourselves. If we can do this, we advance; if not, we do not advance. The problem is that we acquire various kinds of knowledge and sensations, and it seems to us that this is an advancement. But it is not. One can continue like this for 20 to 30 years, and there will be no advancement at all if we do not receive additional forces from the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18-19/26, Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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The Creator made only one state, a desire filled with light, the world of infinity. We are in this infinity, but we do not feel our true state because our desires were intentionally corrupted, and now we feel this malfunction. We feel a corrupted world of infinity, whose entire immense desire was divided into an infinite number of parts, and each part into another 613 desires.

The whole problem lies in the fact that instead of the intention to bestow, an egoistic intention arose, one for oneself, to fill oneself, and to care for oneself, instead of uniting.

To correct these 613 individual desires means “to hear His instructions,” all “613 counsels” on how to attain the corrected state. And when we achieve correction and replace today’s egoistic intention with the intention to bestow, we reveal the light that fills our corrected desire in the world of infinity.

It is as if we return to infinity, regain consciousness, and receive the entire light that fills our corrected desires in which it was always present in the form of a hidden, secret deposit! We return to the good state in which we always existed, only we did not notice the delight that filled us fbecause it was delight from bestowal!

We were tuned and directed only to the range of reception; therefore, instead of the vast pleasure, we sensed only a tiny force that sustains life, which was given to us so we could return to the corrected state!

Thus, we follow the 613 counsels in order to correct our 613 desires, receive in them the 613 lights, and thereby reach the end of correction. But this final state already exists and is waiting for us to feel it within our intentions of bestowal! Therefore, these 613 commandments are called “Pkudin” from the word “Pikadon” (deposit),  a deposit originally placed by the Creator into our account, awaiting our correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, Rabash “The Importance of a Prayer of Many”

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Question: Is it even possible to “buy a friend“? Or will we need to work with each person individually?

Answer: I do not think you need to treat someone or something individually, or choose three or four people for yourself. Let us say I work with several people here. There are several colleagues at work from my department, for example.

I know them better since I am in the same group, but that does not mean I relate to them as if they were spiritual friends.

My spiritual friends may be completely different, those from whom I draw more inspiration, those who can influence me in their own way, by how they relate to spirituality, how they influence me, and how devoted they are to the work. Maybe this individual is different from the people I work with although they do the same things; it depends on the character. It depends on the way the person does it.

Let us say one of them works here from morning to night, does everything, and I am in constant contact with him, but I admire the other more. One has nothing to do with the other.

The form in which he does this seems to affect me; it depends on my character, on certain qualities I have. He influences me more than anyone else. What can I do? This is how it is.

In general, you should not focus on any one person but only on the group. This will give you more opportunities to give to it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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