Question: Can it be said that a person ascends to the Creator from a state of darkness?

Answer: It all depends on what darkness is for me. I can be full of life while in that state.

For example, the World Cup has just started, and people are engrossed with it from morning until night. If I could interest them in the purpose of creation as intensely as they follow the ball, it would be simply wonderful! In other words, it all depends on what I see as darkness.

Suppose I am deeply drawn to this World Cup, yet I realize that all my thoughts and desires connected with it are darkness! But there is nothing I can do about it! And indeed, what is the purpose of creation matter compared to this? This championship contains the entire taste of life for me. But I define it as darkness. In fact, it is light for me, but my state, my attitude toward it is darkness! And then I begin to search.

Of course, my search is artificial, but I hope that someone will eventually change my state. So I force myself, willingly or not, to join a group that will help me, that will “brainwash” me, so that I will acquire different thoughts. Thus, everything depends on what we define as darkness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work? ”

The depth of spiritual attainment is determined by the depth of the corrected desire. With each new generation, increasingly coarser (more egoistic) souls descend into this world.

For this reason, the Kabbalists who lived before the ARI (16^th century) had a small ego and could not reveal the elements of creation in full detail, such concepts as the Masach (Screen), Tzimtzum Aleph, Tzimtzum Bet (the first and second restrictions), and Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light).

They worked with these spiritual forces, but their origin and actions were not yet fully clear to them. Consequently, they could not describe them with complete precision.

It is like seeing a picture and even being able to paint it while not knowing how colors are decomposed into a spectrum, what wavelength each color has, how those wavelengths affect us, and how they are perceived as sensations.

Without sufficient depth of desire, it is impossible to reach the underlying causes and explain how the light connects with the desire.

The ARI was the first to reveal the distinction and connection between the direct light and the reflected light due to the uniqueness of his soul in its full depth.

In addition, the era of the Messiah was beginning and souls requiring correction started to be revealed in the world.

Before that, came the period of exile during which the ego had not yet manifested itself in a form ready for correction.

Therefore, it is said that all the Kabbalists before the ARI explained Kabbalah primarily from the perspective of the direct light (the Kabbalah of the Ramak), whereas the ARI explained Kabbalah from the perspective of the reflected light (the Kabbalah of the ARI).

Baal HaSulam continued the ARI’s method and made it applicable for our generation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/9, Baal HaSulam, Letter 29

In spiritual work, a person must constantly choose the right line and turn toward the right. According to many Jewish laws, we are required to give preference to the right over the left: in putting on shoes, clothing, and so on. All of these are hints to spirituality. But how can we choose the right line over the left in our actions?

A person must perform such actions that will lead him to choose the right. He never performs the action itself, for he is the result of a combination of forces descending from above. Therefore, one must try to ensure that, under the influence of these forces, he becomes more connected with the right line.

Rabash gives various pieces of advice on how to achieve this: study more, and during the study ask that this happens; be with the friends and listen to their advice on what the right line is and what the left line is; try to clarify for yourself what this is and exalt the right line within yourself.

So start thinking about it and try to clarify this concept. This is precisely what we study: how to make the right decision. Many things operate according to the same principle: choosing a goal, selecting the means to attain it, making an accurate analysis of the situation, and then trying to connect all these things together.

For example, we want to gather together and decide how to publish books in Hebrew, specifically in what external form. We still do not know the details: what the cover should be, what illustration it should have, and everything else. I must clarify what the issue is, by what means I can solve it, and what questions I need to answer, in other words, how I arrive at the certainty that a particular format is the best possible one.

In this simple way, without unnecessary philosophizing, we choose only what is essential. We do not feel that this relates to our spiritual work, but in fact it does, and it is very closely connected to it. If we know how to present our work in the group correctly, and indeed everything we do in life, then we will never make a mistake.

This is the process of clarification and decision-making. We do not know on what basis to make decisions or how to make them, but the decision is the result of the process of our work, and it will be correct if the process itself is correct. This aligns perfectly with our spiritual laws.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?”

We should understand for what purpose a person should know that he fears God (Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”).

What does it mean that a person must pass a test? Who is testing him, and for what purpose? And why, at the very beginning, should a person say about everything he encounters: “If I am not for myself, who will help me?” That is, he must begin the action as though he has the ability to accomplish it by his own strength without the intervention of any other force, as though he himself is acting, and not the Creator or His messenger.

Then, after he has completed the work, whether he succeeded or not, but has done everything he intended to do, he must say: “There is none else besides Him.”

What does saying this before the work and after it mean? How does merely saying these words help? Here we are speaking about a person’s spiritual state before performing the action and after completing it.

We know that the light builds the Kli and performs every action within it. The Kli is the result of the light. It is entirely under the influence of the light and is incapable of making any independent decisions. It has no other option than either to agree or disagree with what is happening, according to the depth of its awareness of what the light  is doing with it.

Without a doubt, the Creator performs everything. Yet a person must come to the perception that everything he does, everything that happens to him, is the Creator’s action. This is the essence of our correction: to heal the blindness of our senses, of our perception.

Therefore, when a person utters a blessing or offers a prayer, it does not mean that something will happen afterward because of it. On the contrary, both the blessing and prayer are felt only in relation to the result that the person has already attained through the light’s influence upon him.

The light influences the Kli, and the Kli begins to feel what the light is doing to it. From Aviut Aleph to Aviut Dalet, it receives impressions from the lights of NRNHY, according to the order of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida.

This continues until the person attains the full depth of the Creator’s intention toward him and understands everything that the Creator wishes to accomplish. Accordingly, the Kli truly reaches a state in which it shares the same action and the same awareness as the Creator. Then either a genuine prayer or genuine gratitude arises within him.

What does this mean? It means that the person has truly reached a state in which he understands what the Creator is doing with him, as it is written: “From Your actions we know You.” He then knows precisely which actions have passed over him, who brought them about, for what purpose, and what they accomplished within him. To the extent permitted by his spiritual structure, he has completed his work: he has examined and felt the Creator’s influence.

As a result of fully feeling and understanding the Creator’s action upon him, he becomes similar to the Creator in that very action and accepts it completely. This means that he justifies the action and brings himself into equivalence with it, that is, he becomes similar to the Creator through His actions. And through this awareness, correction comes. Thus, he completes that stage.

Then the Creator acts upon him once again, and again he must say: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” This means that he must personally examine everything and carry it through. In this way, he comes to know the Creator’s action upon him. Then after reaching a state where he has understood everything, he says: “There is none else besides Him.”

He truly sees and knows that only the Creator acts. And now, having understood each of His actions completely, that is, having reached the state in which he feels within that action that the Creator is “Good and does good,” he himself acquires the intention to be good and to do good.

This is what is meant by: “From Your actions we know You.” Through the actions that reveal what the Creator does, a person comes to know Him with his own senses. Based on this knowledge, he transforms his own feelings so that they become like the Creator’s. This is called adhesion, equivalence of qualities and intentions. The fact that, at the end of his work, he gives thanks means that he has completed that degree, examined it, corrected himself, become similar to the Creator, and is ready for the next action.

Therefore, everything begins with: “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” This is the entire work of the “spies,” the work of examination and scrutiny. A person regrets, agrees, struggles, and continues searching until he understands the essence of the Creator’s action. When he finally accepts it as good, he justifies it, brings himself into equivalence with it, and ultimately becomes like the action itself.
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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 186

What Is the Root of Hatred?

The root of hatred is the breaking of the screen; there is no unity, each one feels only their own will to receive, and we feel alienation toward a will to receive that is different from our own. There are many degrees. We love ourselves and care only about ourselves because our nature compels us to do so. As RABASH writes in an article: a wolf that devours a deer does not do harm to the deer; the wolf’s nature demands that it fill itself, and the Creator created it so that the deer is its fulfillment. The wolf eating the deer is a correction for both the wolf and the deer. To us it seems terrible, but it is not. It is nature.

He also continues and writes that there are animals that harm other animals, not because they need to, but out of an ancient habit that was necessary for survival in the past and now is no longer necessary. Therefore, even though the need for its actions is not understood, the ancient habit seems to exempt it from punishment because it is not to blame for having become accustomed in this way, since nature accustomed it to act in such a way. Here we are speaking only about the animal degree, the degree of the still, vegetative, and animate. Therefore, these degrees have neither good deeds nor transgressions, and they are not judged as good or evil according to their behavior. They only have nature.

Human beings are required to deal with their relationships. The question of what we need for survival and for the fulfillment of our basic needs is not asked. Usually the state ensures that each person has a secure piece of ground under their feet. The more corrected the society is, the more it cares for its members. Our self-examination begins at the degree above survival.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation” that at the end of correction, in the last generation, there will be a universal religion for all the nations. What will that religion be? It will be to not receive more than the least unsuccessful person receives from society. He calls this “religion.” The rest of the nations, he says, can maintain their religions, customs, and traditions, and will not interfere. This indicates Baal HaSulam’s attitude toward the entire animal degree. In other words, I make an account of what is necessary for me according to the last unsuccessful person, the one who truly receives less than everyone else. If I receive more than that person, then I receive luxuries. This is what Baal HaSulam says. This is the ideal, the religion of the last generation.

However, necessity has many degrees. There is a degree in which we relate only to ourselves and our needs, and there is a degree in which we already begin to take others into account.

What does it mean “to take others into account”? We have animal desires that animals also have: food, sex, shelter, family, which are all necessities. “Necessary” is what we do only for the needs of our body. When we already begin to look at what others have, it means we no longer consider only what our body needs, but we think about how we will appear in the eyes of others. Suddenly we need a five-story house, which means that we begin to calculate our needs, not according to our body, but according to the eyes of others.

RABASH recounts that in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20^th century his family had one room. In the corner of the room there were mattresses, and at night each person would spread out a mattress and sleep on it. The wealthy parents of his daughter-in-law had two rooms. The entire family lived in one room, and they rented out the second room. This was normal and this was how everyone lived. Today, necessity is that each person has their own room, their own private corner.

When we begin to take society into account and to measure what they should receive from it according to what we see around us, this also affects essential needs such as food and a house. We choose our food and our house according to the variety offered in the supermarket and according to the houses that others build. These all turn from a basic bodily need into a need to have what our neighbors have. This is no longer a necessity but a relationship to the environment. When these needs are compared with what society consumes, they already receive another character and are no longer called necessities but luxuries belonging to human desires: money, honor, and knowledge. These are desires influenced by society, even though they are seemingly connected to the body. In fact, the body does not need them.

In human desires, desires that relate only to society, there is a thought about what we want to contribute to society, opposite to the thought about what we want to receive. However, we want to receive: do we want others not to have what we have, or that they will have it, and perhaps together we can make it good for everyone? In human desires, there is an entire spectrum of shades, from a good attitude toward others to hatred of others.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 185
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 184
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 183

It is impossible to compel a person to perform any action because in spirituality, an action is defined as the movement of the soul, a desire brought about by an inner spiritual effort. A person is incapable of producing this effort on their own. It is an action that arises within them according to their own nature and the measure of the light that comes to them from above.

We never say that a vessel (Kli), operating according to its Aviut (thickness of desire), Reshimot (spiritual records), and the incoming light, suddenly wants  to change or become something different. You cannot decide anything on your own; everything is predetermined for each particular moment. If you wish to change your future, only one opportunity has been given to you: studying within a group, through which you acquire an additional desire that is not merely your own, but an additional acquired from the group, a desire for the upper one.

This is precisely why the shattering into many parts occurred. The soul, as a single vessel filled with light, can become uncorrected and causes the light to depart and the soul to fall. One might ask why are 613 parts needed instead of a single whole? It is written that this was done so that correction would be easier. Through a multitude of souls, incarnations, and small actions, the work of correction will become easier to perform. That is the whole point. Had the soul not been shattered, I would have had no possibility to determine anything at all.

The vessel, together with all its Reshimot and desires, is filled with light and receives it from above; this is already predetermined. Everything comes from above, both the desire and the light. The same would hold true even in the absence of both desire and light. Only subsequently does the light arrive and awaken the vessel (Kli) that begins to move in response.

The division of the collective soul into many parts gives me the opportunity, on my own level—without appealing to above, which I am incapable of doing—to perform the only action that is not predetermined. This is possible precisely because it takes place on my level, where I can receive an addition to my desire from the other parts, or more accurately, an addition to my perception.

Thus, I do not determine who I am, what I am, or what the Creator bestows me. Imagine a Kli: whatever is in it, is what it has; whatever light comes to it, is the light that comes. It cannot change any of this. This determines its state, its thoughts, its desires—everything. The only free choice is to receive an additional perception from a neighboring Kli because the two are connected through their common root. Had they not been connected, such a possibility would have not existed.

Two Kelim (vessels), which were united at their common root, descend into this world and become separated from one another. By striving to connect with another person, by taking something from them, you are, in effect, performing the same act of connection that exists at the root. Instead of the triangle (Kli–root–Kli), you “bond” the two vessels directly, as though merging their desires into one. You receive from your friend an aspiration for spirituality, for the Creator, regardless of whether that aspiration has already been corrected to some extent or not.

In this way, it is as though you unite the two vessels above, and this is the only action you are capable of performing through your own free choice—the only one. Then it is as though you possess two vessels: the one that was originally yours, and the desire you received from your friend. And once you have taken your friend’s desire, you thereby evoke from above—where the multitude of souls is united—at least the light that belongs to both souls. As a result, both your own light and your friend’s light begin to pour upon you; and this is a wonderful addition.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

The Study of the Ten Sefirot describes the construction of our soul. By studying it, I will learn exactly what is happening inside me, even though I do not feel it now. But I want to feel and understand it because if I connect with it, I will enter eternal life.

Therefore I must constantly develop the habit of thinking this way and listening—listening, and listening endlessly. Then during my studies I will not merely lack general knowledge, but I will develop the need to find out what is written about me in the book. Now I am reading a book about myself, not about some world separated from me by thousands of partitions.

There are no worlds outside of me; they all exist within me. Among my 620 desires, there are those that relate to one world, another, or a third world; that is how it is divided.

All 620 of my desires represent 620 degrees that I have to surmount, starting from my present state all the way to the final correction.

These 620 degrees are divided into five groups, each of which is hidden in a certain way, revealed by performing a certain action, filled with a certain light, and therefore each one is called a world. All these things are inside me. Outside of me is only Atzmuto, the essence of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

Question: Is freedom of choice the sixth sense?

Answer: Yes, but you must realize that freedom of choice is something you must learn. You cannot simply tell a person, “You are free to choose, go ahead and choose!” First, you must teach them what that freedom actually entails. You face a thousand roads, but you cannot distinguish between them, or you may not even see them at all or see how they relate to one another. Yet you must choose the one path that truly leads to progress.

Choice involves selecting both the path and the method of advancing along it. It requires extensive knowledge and a precise method:, specifically the forces you must draw upon to move forward even though you are not yet connected to them.

Indeed, how can I move forward when all I see before me is a desert? There is an inner contradiction here. I must take the right step in this desert, but in which direction out of 360 degrees? How can I know? If I could see clearly, there would be no choice. That is why I have been placed in a state where I cannot see.

But if I cannot see, how can I choose? This situation seems illogical and nonsensical when viewed from the lens of our ordinary intellect. Yet through spiritual understanding, we immediately perceive that there is no contradiction at all. So how do I actually advance?

Here I must learn how to draw higher forces and use them, even though I do not yet sense them. Therefore, we must receive this method from an external source; it does not originate with us.

There are many people who say, “I will advance according to what my soul tells me; it will be fine; it will be the authentic me.” But if you follow only what you call your “soul,” you will remain on the level of an animal. You must acquire something new, something you do not yet have.

Thus, without receiving this wisdom (Hochma) from above, from an external source, from the spiritual world, it is impossible to advance. Even our study serves only one purpose: to draw these higher forces upon ourselves so that they influence us, help us make the right choice, and nothing more.

When this force comes from above, it creates what is called Chen de Kedusha (the charm or grace of holiness) within me. I do not know how it acts within me, nor do I know exactly what it does there. I know only the final, desired outcome I wish to attain through my study.

While studying, the surrounding light (Ohr Makif) shines upon the point in the heart, the root of the soul. Then I begin to feel a subtle attraction in the right direction, toward the very source from which that light emanated. It is this attraction, this small inner impulse, that determines my choice.

It appears as though something is hidden here. Without a doubt, I must summon the upper force. But how do I attract it? How do I acquire it? By what instrument can I measure it? In volts or kilograms? None of this can be known.

Yet a person is told that if, under specific conditions and after proper preparation, one reads the right book knowing exactly what they wish to demand from it and precisely what one desires to attain through it, and if this desire has been born of genuine effort, then the force that comes to the person is indeed the true spiritual force.

There are many additional subtleties involved, but the outcome of all our study and all our actions must be the arrival of a force from above that pulls us out. That is the choice.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?”

It is said: “Everyone who mourns for Jerusalem will merit seeing its joy.” This means that one must pray for the society. But what should one ask for? Does society even have a desire for spirituality? The point is that all the desires that exist in society belong to the person who is working on correction.

The desires are inside the people, and the intentions must be developed by the Kabbalist. Desire and intention are two distinct categories; they do not exist in the same place. When a Kabbalist works with the Masach (screen), Tzimtzum (restriction), and Ohr Hozer (reflected light), the desires start to become ordered and transformed in accordance with the intention with which he wants to use the desires.

Intention is called the “head,” and desire the “body.” We work on the “head,” on the intention, so that it will match the body, and then we can use the “body,” the desires. If such matching existed and then disappeared, this signifies the destruction (of the Temple). And if the matching between intention and desire is restored, that is the building of a spiritual Partzuf, its birth.

The Kli is the intention to bestow. The entire process of correction consists of attaining the right intention. The desires exist; they are simply not properly arranged, not supplied with the correct intention. No new desires appear.

The breaking, restriction, and concealment occur so that we can clarify the desires and begin to connect them. Just as an infant is born and begins to grow, so we correct the breaking and grow our soul.

We work on the intention to make it one of bestowal, directed toward giving pleasure to the Creator. In order to bestow to the Creator, we must concentrate the correct intention and select from the broken desires those that can work under its rule. From this we build a spiritual Partzuf, the measure of our bestowal.

Therefore, there were shatterings and preparations for correction , events that took place not through any fault of our own. The lower level played almost no part in this. The Egyptian exile, the desert, the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian exile, then the Second Temple, which was also destroyed, and the exit into this last exile–how could all of this happen?!

It was simply all preparation carried out from above. And now we only need to perform the final correction. Only it is counted as the work of the human being, while everything else was preparation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/19, on topic “9th of Av (Tisha B’Av)”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 185

What Should We Do If We Already Love Some of the Friends in the Group?

If we already love some of the friends in the group and we are still not at the end of correction, it is a sign that we are deceiving and lying to ourselves. It only seems to us that we love the friends, while in fact we are somehow evading it and calling it love.

Then we must invest more effort. From above we are shown that we are still not with the friends in the state of the end of correction and that we have not yet completely corrected our attitude toward them, which is called “the end of correction.”

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 184
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 183
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 182

Question: I understand that even if the Creator addresses someone and tells him, “Act,” he still has free choice whether to do it or not?

Answer: What does it mean that the Creator speaks to a person? Has anyone heard this?

The Creator speaking to a person means that the person feels an inner impulse; he wants to do something, to carry something out. If this is an impulse toward spirituality, then one can say that it is as though the Creator is speaking to him. It is as if someone else were speaking all the other things. But is there anyone else? He plans and pushes you toward everything—both the bad and the good.

If this general force called the Creator pushes all of reality in this way without giving any part of that reality free choice or the ability to feel it, then His attitude toward reality is as toward the still, vegetative, and animate. But His attitude toward the speaking level is such that a person feels what he wants. In addition to sensing what he wants like an animal, he can also evaluate and analyze this desire, and begin to change it.

In order to make a human being out of the created being (Adam, from Edameh le-Elyon, “similar to the Creator”), He must give him all the states opposite to Himself, so that the person will choose from among them, and prefer to be similar to the Creator.

This is the whole of free choice, the entire right of choice that we have. If a person simply carried out every command from above, he would be a puppet. It is the same as the still, vegetative, and animate levels, which carry out the commands of nature. There is nothing special or unique in that.

Of course, this does not mean that the still, vegetative, and animate are separate from the Creator; they are connected with Him one hundred percent. They carry out whatever nature (Teva) determines, the Creator (Elokim, whose Gematria is equal to HaTeva) without any problem, without any questions, without any choice. This is not a degree; it is the zero level.

A person is called a human being because, in accordance with his own choice and awareness, he understands that this is how he should act; he justifies the Creator, and from all the qualities opposite to the Creator, chooses to be like Him. By doing so, he builds himself into a human being.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work? ”

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Question: Does disconnection from godliness also come from the Creator?

Answer: Yes, any state comes from the Creator, but disconnection from godliness is received as punishment. How should a person respond to such a state? A person should bless the good as he blesses the bad, and the bad just as he blesses the good.

Disconnection from the ability to progress, from the ability to attain equivalence of form with the Creator, is truly the only punishment that exists in spiritual reality.

For us it becomes expressed even at the corporeal level through greater troubles, more negative experiences, diseases, and wars; it affects our physical bodies. Every good comes from the Creator, and every evil comes from His “Achoraim” (backside), from concealment. The problem is not with concealment itself, but how a person should accept it and relate to it.

Punishment is punishment, and there is no way around that. However, to the extent that a person feels the concealment, to that extent he does not agree with it. It is possible to correct the concealment through the quality of Hassadim to the extent that a person detaches from his personal sensations, rises above them, comes to the state of Hafetz Chesed, and thereby makes correction.

However, any rung less than the final correction is ultimately a punishment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None besides You,’ in the Work?”

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Question: Is my wanting the light, and my needing it for correction the same thing?

Answer: The desire to enjoy the light, and the aspiration for the light for the sake of correction itself are not exactly the same, but they are stages of one path. At first, I simply want to enjoy.

Then I begin to discern more and more clearly what kind of pleasure it is that I am striving for until I reach a state where the correction itself becomes a pleasure for me. Ultimately, the result of the correction becomes my pleasure. And the result of the correction is already bestowal to the Creator.

The fact is that we have only one means by which to draw upon ourselves the surrounding light that will change us. That means are the books. We must build an intention during the study.

An intention is a deficiency, a need (Hisaron) in my heart. This Hisaron is artificial. That is, during the study I think as though I desire the light to come and correct me. If I truly had such a desire, then I would not need to exert effort and labor.

I am told: “You must make an effort.” What does that mean? If I already want something, then I must exert effort in order to bring myself to such a state that during the study the desire to absorb the surrounding light, to be corrected and changed by it, determines everything.

The fact that I study and reflect on the material being studied is only a means. The fact that I will know how, where, and what is written, the numbers, how everything takes place, Galgalta, AB, SAG—all of this is only to familiarize me with the subject, to connect me to it, so that I may find myself inside this film, and while at the center of the events, choose for myself what is most essential, what I want from this film.

I open the book, and I begin to study. I am told about various things that supposedly take place in the spiritual world, supposedly within me. But in the end, what do I need from all this? What do I want to derive from it? One must be prepared for such demands, and in the most correct form possible.

Thus, effort and persistent labor must take place both before the lesson, and during the lesson.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

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In spiritual work, there are two kinds of activity: the work in the mind (Mocha) and work in the heart (Liba), that is, the intention to bestow, and the action itself. It is very difficult to explain this until a person begins to experience it personally. Whenever Baal HaSulam writes about “the mind and the heart,” read it, but be aware that it is very easy to become confused.

Gradually a person begins to feel from where and what comes to him. In truth, both the work of the mind and the work of the heart originate in the heart. It is said, “The heart understands.” The heart has, as it were, two parts: one that simply feels, without analysis (Avchanot), and another that both feels and analyzes. Through this analysis, a person is to some extent able to detach himself from the feeling. Yet both of these aspects are contained within the heart.

The same principle can be seen in a spiritual Partzuf. The Creator created the desire, which then, after feeling both itself and the host, as well as shame and the purpose of creation, builds a Rosh (head), as though above the heart, above the feeling. Yet it builds this Rosh according to the feeling.

It is written that in the world of infinity, “Before the emanations were emanated, and the creatures were created, the simple upper light filled the whole of reality.” At that stage, there was neither Rosh (head) nor Sof (end); there was only the Toch, the inner part of the Kli, filled with the light.

“When it arose in His simple will to create the worlds, and emanate the emanated beings,” then, after the Tzimtzum (restriction) and the establishment of the Masach (screen), the Rosh came into being. The Rosh calculates how much can be received into the Toch. As a result, a portion of the desire remains that receives nothing. This part is called the Sof (end).

In other words, the feeling, or more precisely, the desire to receive that was created by the Creator, builds a Rosh for itself based on all the existing conditions. By means of this Rosh, the desire plans how to make its actions similar to those of the Creator. This is why we say, “The heart understands” and “the heart decides.”

There can be a state in which the heart contains only feeling, without a Masach and without Tzimtzum. But at a certain point, a person acquires an understanding heart. This means that the qualities of Bina appear within the desire to receive. Bina imparts understanding (Havana).

Then the desire to receive, Malchut, together with Bina, that is, together with the quality of bestowal, builds what is called the Rosh of the Partzuf. Only then can we truly speak about the work of the mind and the work of the heart, about how to acquire these two forms of work and unite them into one.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work? ”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 184

Is Slander Toward a Friend in a Society Engaged in Kabbalah the Same as Toward the Creator?

A society engaged in spiritual work aspires to act according to spiritual laws. The entire benefit of the society is that at the root, in the soul of Adam HaRishon, in the place where everyone exists at the highest spiritual degree, where all souls are connected together, we can draw strength and surrounding light. We must try to act from a state in which we are below that highest spiritual degree, as if we were already in that state, the higher one, as if we were already in it. This means that we long for it, and this is called “effort.” Effort means resembling a higher state.

If each member of the group tries to build their relationships with their friends as if they were already at the end of correction, this is called “applying effort.” To the extent that we all long for the corrected state of the end of correction to dwell among us, as it appears to us at the moment, then from that perfect state we will invite a surrounding light upon ourselves that will take care of us and correct us, and it will indeed draw us to the state of the end of correction. Therefore, we must behave in our environment according to “Love your neighbor as yourself” as much as possible.

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A person can only learn from the experience of their past states, from what they have personally lived through. They cannot learn from their current state, because they are held in its grip.

In the current state, one cannot determine anything within oneself, because one’s current thoughts and desires completely occupy the person and one acts based on them. What can a person do? They must raise a prayer, cleave to the upper, and surrender themselves to the upper one’s dominion, so that He will decide what a person will do now. So how does one do it?

A person cannot summon the strength to view their state from the outside and resist it because we are not able to split ourselves in two. However, I can know what my Reshimot (spiritual records) are from the past and how my current state compares to them; I can receive illumination from the upper, raise a prayer to Him, and ask Him to rule over me.

That is, I have only two options: either my current state controls me or the upper governance controls me, and I have to choose. If I take the feeling of the upper’s greatness from the group—which I can only obtain from the group since I cannot find the strength within myself—then I can use the desire obtained from the group, turn to Him from my current state, and surrender myself to His authority.

But if it were not for the group, I would not be able to turn to the upper. I would have no way of realizing that the upper is greater and more important than I am. After all, my current state determines what I want, think, see, and understand.

Of course, one might argue that a person still learns and feels something. This is true, but it only helps a person realize that they need to turn to the group, but it does not give them the strength to turn to the upper. In any case, a person first turns to the group, draws strength from it, and then turns to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work? ”

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Question: Why is our goal called adhesion with the Creator, rather than the correction of the soul?

Answer: Because the goal must be the attainment of a specific state, whereas the correction of the vessels is not the state, it is the means. You must certainly concern yourself with correcting this, but why you are correcting the Kli (vessel) is the essential question.

If you do not know why you should correct your Kli, then you become like those who observe the commandments simply because they have been told to do so. And if you were told something else, you would behave differently.

If you perform corrections without understanding their purpose, then they are merely pseudo-corrections. If, simply because you have nothing better to do, you want to become a good person, that is your personal choice. The Torah does not demand that. The Torah requires a person to attain adhesion, equivalence of form, to become Adam, similar to the upper one (Edameh leElyon). If you simply want to be good, that is fine; there are many people who say they are good.

So why should you correct yourself? What is the reason for correction? What will it give you? Some kind of personal satisfaction? You reason as follows: “I am told that my goal is to attain similarity to the Creator, to adhere to Him. As He is merciful, so I should be merciful; as He is compassionate, so I should be compassionate. But I do not know who He is, so how can I know what I am supposed to become?”

So you return to the same question: if I do not know who He is, how can I know what I am supposed to correct? You say you are willing to engage only in correction, but how can you correct yourself if you do not know the standard by which you are to measure yourself? On the one hand, it is said: “From Your actions we shall know You.” On the other hand, which actions? How am I to know what I am supposed to be?

“Why do I need the revelation of the Creator?” This is the question you are really asking. I need His revelation in order to become like Him, in order to know what I am supposed to be. If you demand His revelation for this purpose, then He will reveal Himself to you. This is what it means that one comes from Lo Lishma (not for His sake) to Lishma (for His sake).

Of course, you desire His revelation because you want to feel good. Yet at the same time there is already a certain attitude toward Him. You value Him, you want Him. Then the Creator reveals Himself to you, but only to the extent that this revelation will correct you, rather than merely fill you. What does it mean to correct you? It means that you receive His qualities, not the pleasure that comes from Him.

The light of correction means that the Creator imparts His greatness to you: “See how merciful I am, and how good this quality is.” As you perceive this, you begin to recognize that this quality is good, that it is higher than your own.

Thus, His revelation comes in two forms: either as the one who corrects you, or as the one who fills you.

Accordingly, this is what you should ask of Him. Prayer is correct when you first ask Him for correction, and only afterward for fulfillment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

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We need to change our attitude to what is happening to us and redefine it according to true spiritual concepts rather than our own perception. Our world is not a world of action, but a world of consequences.

This means that everything you see in yourself and around you are the results, the consequences, of what is happening above. The roots are above; the branches are below. And if that is how you look at it, then at least you see the true picture. How to react to it is another question.

But if what we see is a consequence, then your attitude toward yourself and what is happening changes. The situation has been determined from above, and nothing can be done about it. The question is, what do I need to do to bring about correction so that something different will descend from above?

What becomes important is proper planning. What must I do for a different picture to descend from above? This is a completely different approach to life! Then the entire connection is directed upward, so to speak. You look at this world as a laboratory in which various experiments are being conducted.

So here we see only the consequences, and it is necessary to ask questions about what needs to be done to get a different result. Then in everything: in action, in intention, and in the heart there is an upward orientation toward the Creator, for that is the only place where we can truly exert influence.

But if we simply bustle about in this world without connecting what is happening with the upper world, then it is a waste of time. After all, our world is called: an illusory world.

You see consequences, like images on a television screen, and nothing more. You might think that if you shout at the television, something in it will change. In order for something to change on television, you need to reach out to real people, and then maybe something might change. So, it is with us; it is just a picture on a television screen.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work?”

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Question: It is written that the one who feels darkness is worthy of revealing the Torah. In one of his articles, Rabash writes that those who feel themselves to be in evil, without sensing the Creator, distance themselves from Him. On the other hand, a person who aspires to perfection feels no need for it, and they have nothing to hold on to. How can we connect one with the other?

Answer: Anything can be connected. Give me two statements, and I will connect them just like that. It is not a problem. The question is, what does this actually mean? The feeling of darkness is advancement; it is an ascent but in the left line.

Question: How can you feel perfection along with the feeling of darkness?

Answer: While in darkness, a person cannot feel perfection, otherwise, they would not feel the darkness. This state is not bad; we must experience darkness. The question is, why does one descend into darkness and what does one do while in it?

In Part 12 of  The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Talmud Eser Sefirot [TES]), we studied the nature of evening and nighttime corrections. When evening falls, we take all the Kelim of the previous day and perform evening corrections while we are still able to recite the “Shema” and “Arvit” prayers, then we perform corrections by reciting the “Shema” before going to sleep, and starting at midnight we begin to raise the Kelim de Aba ve Ima (vessels of father and mother), etc.

This is how you must descend into darkness and work in it, including performing corrections during your sleep. You do not simply come to a state where you want to shed the old soul and take on a new degree, a new soul. Tomorrow will bring you a new degree, and you must be ready starting at night.

Question: How can you feel elated and in darkness at the same time?

Answer: If you perceive darkness as something useful, you will be glad of it. You will bless the Creator and remain in adhesion with Him in the darkness as well. At the same time, I am not talking about our level, but about others where there are corrections, for example, “60 breaths of a horse,” etc. There are various night corrections a person makes intentionally to move from one degree to another. We are talking about very significant things.

Out of the darkness, we reveal all the “Avchanot” (internal definitions of properties), and then simply correct them by adding intent. New desires are revealed from darkness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 183

Chapter 18. The Root of Hatred

In this world it is customary that refraining from slander means that a person should not speak ill of their friend, that people should be good to one another, and that every person should examine themselves before saying something critical about another. Today, there are so many thick books on the subject that before people do something or approach someone, they first check the law books of slander to see how it is advisable to approach and how they can protect themselves through what is written. That is, people do not examine their hearts, but rather look at “what is written in the books” and act according to what is written. What is written is permitted, and what is not written is not.

In other words, importance is given to what a person utters with their mouth, while there is no discussion about what takes place in the heart. That belongs to the hidden teaching. For the general public, for the still level, this is indeed the accepted path and appropriate for its degree. However, “slander” is certainly not what we express with our mouth or even what we feel in our heart toward the environment, but only what we feel toward the Creator. What we feel toward the Creator is either slander or good speech.* The sole intention is with regard to the Creator.

Since the entire purpose is to reach adhesion with the Creator and the only way to do so is to improve my qualities so they will be in equivalence of form with Him, everything I do is always to compare myself to Him: where I am, where the Creator is, how much I understand who He is, what He is, how I can make this correction, reduce the gap between us, how much I value the situation as beneficial for progress that He builds around me and within me, and how much I understand His state.

The way a person feels this entire situation, even before they examine and criticize it, is essentially their attitude toward the world that the Creator has shaped for them, and if they are not satisfied with it, their attitude toward their life is called “slander.”

In the wisdom of Kabbalah we learn that our soul includes two parts:
GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) – vessels of bestowal, called “Israel.”
AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) – vessels of reception, called “the nations of the world.”

The general correction is that until the end of correction it is impossible to use the vessels of reception, but only the AHP that ascend through their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of reception themselves are called “gentile,” and their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal is called a “convert.”

From this follows the correction that can be made to these two types of vessels:

The correction for Israel, for Galgalta ve Eynaim, is “Love your neighbor as yourself” (per Rabbi Akiva), because they can reach adhesion with the Creator. “Your neighbor” is the Creator.

The correction for the nations, for AHP, is a restriction called “What is hateful to you, do not do to your friend” (per Hillel), which means restrict your evil. This is because the vessels of reception in and of themselves cannot be corrected until the end of correction.

This is precisely the difference between Rabbi Akiva and Hillel, and this is the difference in the relationship between these two corrections. In Galgalta ve Eynaim, vessels of bestowal, it is permitted to use them, and in AHP, vessels of reception, it is forbidden to use them.

From this we can understand the “holy language” as a language spoken through vessels of bestowal, Hebrew, Panim (anterior), and the “language of translation” as that which is still not the holy language, but a language through which we prepare ourselves in AHP to later reach correction so that it will be like Galgalta ve Eynaim, the Achoraim (posterior) of the holy language. Therefore, Galgalta ve Eynaim speak in the holy language, and AHP speak in the language of translation. This is also why The Book of Zohar was written in the language of translation, in the Achoraim, because it is a book that still deals with corrections.

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