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Receive a Palace Instead of a Room

252Question: On the spiritual path, a person discovers, time and again that when they ask for something specific, they receive something completely different.

Answer: Even if I am engaged in spiritual work, say, on degree “X,” then for me, “X + 1” equals infinity. I am not capable of doing, thinking, or feeling anything that belongs to that degree. I have no screen; my desire at the degree X + 1 is a Klipa. How can I take those desires and want the opposite within them? It seems unnatural to me; it does not correspond to my nature.

Suppose that now you live, you have a room and some clothes. To renounce all of this now means that you would relinquish everything, give up your room, your clothes, and be content with just one pair of trousers and one shirt. There are people who live this way. You wouldn’t even need the room anymore. You would be capable of giving it all up.

Now, let’s say you have made this correction, and instead of one room you are given a good apartment, full of all kinds of comforts and nice things. Your car is parked outside of the building. But you are told, “All you need is a shirt and pair of trousers. Why do you need all this? Why do you  need such a large apartment? There is plenty of space in the yard. Give it up.”

In other words, time and again, you find yourself in a state where you have no strength to carry out corrections, and no possibility to ask for these corrections to come to you.

Question: But couldn’t you say: “I gave up the apartment, and now I received a palace in return”?

Answer: No. The fact that you gave up the apartment is true. Subsequently, you do receive a palace. But since you receive it in the left line (uncorrected desires), you feel that this palace is bad for you. If you were simply to enjoy the palace, you would descend into the Klipot, you would forget about Kabbalah and forget about the purpose of creation.

Within the surrounding light you reveal what this palace really is. It does not come to you as even greater pleasure. Otherwise, everyone would give up something small in order to receive something greater.

Spiritual work is never a direct path to correction. We have absolutely no direct approach to it. In our work, everything happens indirectly.

I am given the possibility to evoke this, to be its cause. But the work itself is done from above. That is why it is such a complex matter. I do not feel that I am working because I am not working on the correction directly. I do not feel that the Creator relates to me in a straightforward way but always through such unpleasant, difficult revelations. Sometimes there are pleasant ones, but only to give me strength.

A person who works correctly and truly advances feels revelation and some small illumination only for a very short time. These illuminations that show them something are revealed for very brief moments, say, five minutes a day. All the rest of the time they work through effort. And this brings benefit until the effort itself turns into light.

If the effort is truly for the sake of bestowal, then there is light, there is pleasure from the effort itself. In such a case, this effort becomes clothed in the light of Hochma.

Just consider how opposite we are to bestowal, in our Kelim, in our preparation, in our sensations, and in our thoughts. See how, through the Klipot, we are pulled toward correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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Submit to the Creator

237A person striving for spirituality sees to what extent they are opposite to the Creator, and that they have no possibility to change themselves on their own to acquire the opposite form. Only help from above can bring about this transformation.

And then, from these painful reflections, he turns to the Creator. Afterward, one understands that this opposite form and the true form that he must receive if the Creator helps him, were revealed in him intentionally so that he could feel them in himself. This is not simply so that he would feel bad in one and good in the other and would feel these states as good and evil, but so that as a result of this clarification, he would want to adhere to the Creator Himself.

Both of these forms, which seem so opposite to a person and are perceived in this way by his senses, are in fact only a means to merge with the Creator.

The truth lies above these two forms. In contrast to the status of the Creator, who exists above these qualities, if a person casts aside his attitude toward his own state either because of frivolity or due to the heaviness of thoughts, then he as if disappears from spirituality altogether.

There is no intermediate state between frivolity and seriousness. This is the state of an ordinary person from the street who in no way correlates his qualities with the qualities of the Creator. In spirituality, this concept does not exist.

From here, the conclusion is that our most important work is to come to a prayer, which is called work in the heart. But it is carried out precisely with seriousness, because seriousness is not that I see my qualities as the opposite of the Creator and wish to correct them, but a level above that. Because I see it this way, understand it, and strive to correct my qualities, I submit to the Creator and accept His advice to go and correct them by faith above reason.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?

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Submit to the Group

963.7Pharaoh (Paro) stands opposed to the Creator, he resists Him. Moses, the point in the heart within us, stands between them. The dispute between Pharaoh and the Creator is conducted through the point in the heart. All our other desires should simply obey it. In the same way, a person must obey the group.

Therefore it is said that on the day of the exodus from Egypt, “You became My people.” And before that, there was no such thing as the people of Israel.

This outcome, the acquisition of a screen, occurs inside a person when he receives correction due to the influence of the upper light on him. During the exodus from Egypt, the light GAR deHochma comes.

Only with such a strong light can the Kelim be prepared to exit from the desire to receive, which is called the passage of the Final Sea (Red Sea).

This can only be done through unity. Many friends come together, unite, become a “people,” that is, one single vessel, a Kli, and then the light comes from above that can lead us out of Egypt.

Therefore, love between friends, unity, and the capacity to yield to each other are absolutely necessary. The indispensable condition is that the desire of each individual must merge with the desires of all the others to create a common desire that corresponds to the state of Passover (Pesach).

We belittle and subdue our material egoistic desires; we cast aside all our petty calculations with each other, single out, and we isolate and connect only our desire for spirituality. We unite all our points in the hearts so that they form one common Kli, which will be sufficient to truly pull us out of the bondage of selfishness and to merit the light of correction coming from above.

When leaving Egypt, all the work that a person has done over the many years of the preparation period comes together, and its results are summed up. Therefore, we must unite and achieve the necessary measure. And if we can do this, then the lights of Passover, both materially and spiritually, will influence us so that we will actually be worthy to approach spirituality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/26, Rabash, “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

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Respect the Evil Inclination

255Question: What does it mean to respect the evil inclination?

Answer: It means that we should respect the work of the evil inclination, to observe with what punctuality and meticulousness this “angel” works on us in pursuing the objective of awakening, time and again, in the correct direction. The method of its work is opposite to what we are supposed to do, yet at the same time it works on us constantly and continuously. This is truly remarkable. One can learn from it.

We must be vigilant about how these things manifest and understand that they come not from my own nature, but from an external force within me that constantly awakens me in a direction opposite to the Creator. And if I continually act in opposition to it and turn toward the Creator, I am , in that very act, reaching out specifically to Him.

It is the evil inclination that leads to this, according to its quantity, quality, and character, and according to the sequence of actions, thoughts, and desires it evokes. Cell by cell, it builds my spiritual Partzuf.

Question: Are there breaks in its work?

Answer: There are no intervals or pauses in the evil inclination. It is our spiritual gene and it is undergoing development. Since the shattering of the vessels occurred, it pulls us in various directions opposite to the Creator. Our task is simply to correct our intention regarding this gene. Once we do, it will develop properly.

Essentially, it has been developing all along as a simple Reshimo, and now it begins to expand more and more, like dough. We only need to give it a form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/26, Rabash, “It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing from a Bad Person”

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What Gives Us Advancement Above Reason?

233There are three ways of advancing in one’s spiritual work, if all of them can be called advancement.

The first way is to advance within knowledge, according to what I understand with my intellect when I investigate ad subject and make calculations. This is the approach taken by the entire world.

There is also a form of advancement within knowledge that might provisionally be termed spiritual work. This is not the kind of advancement undertaken by the world at large, which remains disconnected from the Creator, but rather the movement of those who appear to be connected with the Creator and who relate to Him in accordance with their own understanding and perception. This is called “walking within reason.” There are people like this among us.

There are also people who relate to the Creator below knowledge, below reason, below the level of the intellect. this implies that they understand that if they follow their own intellect, they will not achieve success. How can a person who relies on their own intellect advance spiritually?

Consequently such a person thinks that if they suppress their intellect, effectively cut it off, they will be able to connect with the mind of the Creator and will be connected with Him. If my mind sends me all kinds of disturbances, I turn it off, and no matter what happens, I do not pay attention to it. I remain connected to the Creator and do not look at those disturbances that come from my reason.

Why is this bad? If I think that I want to be connected to the Creator no matter what happens,  I am effectively doing nothing more than erasing all the obstacles, one by one. In this case, I will not need the help of the Creator. In essence, I will have no need for the Creator Himself. I simply become a fanatic, and it does not matter what abstract idea I champion, not even matter if that idea has any actual connection to the Creator.

The correct advancement, the one that can truly enable a person to reach their goal, union with the Creator, is possible only if one follows a path fraught with disturbances, including those that arise in one’s own mind. By rising above them, one establishes a connection with the Creator, known as faith above reason.

Therefore, of all the possibilities—below reason, within reason, and above reason—only advancement above reason leads to adhesion with the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/26, Rabash, “Moses Went”

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The Blessing “Who Made a Miracle for Me”

231.04When I am in an ascent, I want to be a faithful servant of the Creator; in other words, I attach all of Malchut to Bina. This is the difference between Tzimtzum (restriction), Masach (screen), and Ohr Hozer (reflected light).

Tzimtzum occurs only on Malchut and stems from egoistic shame in order to avoid the terrible feeling of separation from the Creator.

A Masach is the aspiration to work above one’s desire to receive pleasure; it is an ascent above egoism.

Reflected light means that I take the desire of the Creator and work for Him.

All these actions take place at different levels of the desire to receive. A new Kli is revealed within me in which I receive from the host. I discover how much He enjoys giving to me, and I allow Him to do so. I continue to receive from the Creator, but now consciously and only in order to give Him pleasure, as if an infant understood how pleasing it is for the mother to feed him and opened his mouth only for that reason.

Only through mutual guarantee can we constructively use descents and turn them into ascents. During a true descent, a person is incapable of doing anything themselves; only the friends can help them.

When one falls, it gives the others an opportunity to acquire additional desires and not to fall. If we acted this way, we would always be in ascent. The group would continuously rise if it correctly used each descent by extracting an additional drive forward from it.

The goal of the Creator is not to cast us into despair, but to bring us to true unity. Yet He deliberately arranges things so that along the way we despair and ask Him for help. After all the efforts we invest, we despair in our work and cry out to the Creator, and then He saves us.

But until this happens, we must constantly strive only for unity in order to ultimately discover that we are incapable of it without the help of the upper force. This entire process is called the Egyptian exile.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/18, Rabash, “What Is the Blessing, ‘Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,’ in the Work?”

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How Can We Reveal the Creator’s Garments in Everyday Life?

423.02Question: How can I be amidst strangers in daily life and maintain the intention for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: I see people on the street: one is thinking about how to write a book; another is a scientist, thinking about what experiment he will conduct, what he will discover; a third is in love, and you can see that he is completely absorbed in this feeling and sees nothing else; a fourth is terribly angry, do not go near him, something is happening inside him.

Everyone lives their own inner life. But I am not speaking about those who move around the street like zombies but about those who truly live. They live their inner life and this does not prevent them from functioning externally.

Of course, it is apparent that there is something in a person, some inner experience, something is burning inside them. Yet such things exist in our world as well. So what is special about our work? Perhaps only the underlying concept is distinct.

Admittedly, it is a bit more complex, because the idea itself belongs to the upper world, whereas the body and its functions reside in the lower world. However, even ordinary people experience such incongruities; as the saying goes: “His body is here, but his thoughts are somewhere else.”

Furthermore, I would say that it is actually easier for you than for someone who is in love. He spends his day thinking about when he will finally meet his beloved that evening, and the rest of the day feels dead to him. Or consider someone who is utterly exhausted and thinks only about when the workday will end so he can go home to rest or watch a soccer match.

But for you, it is different. Throughout your path, in the entire process you go through during the day, you can perceive within it the garments of the Shechina; you can observe how you relate to the Creator, and how you work with Him through all the garments of this world so as not to miss a single taste. In this way, you deliberately reveal all the garments of the Creator relative to yourself in order to relate to Him in the correct form.

This is not simple. We forget about it, and even if we do not forget, it transforms into a rather effective  means of spiritual advancement, to the greatest extent possible.

The easiest and most beneficial way to practice this is not with people but with inanimate objects. Rabash always said that it is best to work as he did: as a metalworker, a cobbler, or even as an office worker, although he specifically dealt with paperwork. In other words, with something inanimate.

Working with plants and animals is also manageable, but when you work on the speaking level, with people, that is what truly confuses you. They exert an influence on you by transmitting their inner state to you, and this serves as a distraction.

I work two hours a day receiving people, and that is like working ten hours in a factory. But working in a kitchen is a pleasure. There you can infuse your work with your intentions, your thoughts, your attitude, and everything else does not matter. But when people come and occupy your mind, they influence you. If something does not influence you (on a level lower than the speaking), that is excellent. Therefore, I do not see the difficulty.

On the contrary, in a monotonous steady job where you do not need to invest your mind and heart much, like a shoemaker, is best. Today, such work hardly exists. Every kind of work demands some degree of emotional or mental exertion. Nevertheless, it is highy desirable to engage in an occupation where you remain undisturbed, where your inner world remains your own private domain, and within it, you are free to live your own inner life.

Question: Is it considered good if it is easier and less burdensome?

Answer: It is not exactly about being easier or more convenient. It is simply that people bring their own elements into you and influence you with their inner world and their problems; when you are with them, you can hardly engage in your own inner work.

Question: Is this an opportunity to test yourself to see to what extent you are capable of engaging in this work?

Answer: If you attune yourself into someone else’s desire and work with it, then you can determine how you relate to it from one perspective or another. But that is not you acting entirely on your own.
The time we are living in is a special time.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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Work in the Mode of Bestowal

276.02Working in the mode of bestowal is called life, much like the way our life unfolds. But unlike eternal life, our earthly life in a physical body comes to an end, and each of its moments is separated from the others alternating between states of lack and small, temporary fulfillments.

In the process where you constantly fill the Creator, since His vessel is boundless, you have the opportunity to continually increase your bestowal. This allows you to constantly experience eternal life, without end or limit, filling up, expanding, and extending yourself without limit.

Therefore, praising and exalting the Creator are means by which you can bring Him delight. If you have awareness of the greatness of the Creator, a sense of His glory, this gives you the ability to bestow naturally, much as it happens in this world. After all, when you meet a great person, you naturally want to give him something, serve him, be attentive, and show honor and respect.

Consequently, our challenge, while we remain in a state of concealment, lies in being able to visualize the greatness of the Creator. If we succeed in doing this, the Creator truly begins to reveal Himself to us little by little. Then, based on this revelation, we become capable of transforming His greatness into a form of reception, not for self-gratification, but for the sake of bestowal.

When the Creator is revealed, my vessels (Kelim) yearn to receive His unveiled, visible greatness. At that point, I perform a Tzimtzum (restriction), and a new phase of work begins, one through which I can receive for the sake of bestowal.

Before the Creator is revealed, I am capable only of bestowal for the sake of bestowal. But when the Creator is revealed, it is a sign that I have reached a state in which I am able to work in the mode of receiving for the sake of bestowal. Thus, opposite my desire to receive stands a pleasure that I can already restrain, and as if undergoing a phase shift, literally a complete inversion, transform into bestowal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/26, Rabash “What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?”

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Twelve Parts of the Work on the Common Kli

243.04Until a person comes to the final correction (Gmar Tikun), their entire path lies in faith above reason—both in Egypt and subsequently the desert. Along this path, we move from Lo Lishma (for the sake of receiving) to Lishma (for the sake of bestowing). This transition is brought about by the Creator according to a person’s efforts.

A person’s work is divided into two categories: 13 attributes and 12 qualities. The 13 attributes represent the definitions of the properties of abundance descending from above downward and are called Mazalot (streams of fortune, the signs of the Zodiac). This abundance arrives gradually; the light of Hochma (Ohr Hochma) trickles down from the Rosh (head) of Arich Anpin in the form of the “thirteen corrections of the Dikna (beard).”

When it reaches the lowest point, the created being must be corrected in order to receive this abundance within its own corrected vessels. This means that the created being subdivides its levels of reception into distinct parts, which are designated as the twelve tribes, the twelve specific parts of the work performed on the collective vessel (Kli).

Each of these parts entails its own specific work, its own unique banner—its own way to “break through” under the guidance of its banner. The nature of this work and these actions are completely different from one another, just as one spiritual encampment camp differs entirely from another.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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Work in “Seriousness”

216.04Matter and anti‑matter exist; things that are completely opposite to each other. But who can discover and evaluate this oppositeness? There must be some reference point, something intermediate, something opposite.

When a person receives a point in the heart, that is, a quality of the Creator, looks at all their other qualities from within it, at their overall form, and sees to what extent they are opposite to the Creator, then a feeling truly arises within them that is called “seriousness.” But this is not yet quite the seriousness that is necessary, because a person sees only his own oppositeness. So what? This is still not enough.

Well, fine, I am opposite to the Creator. Then one might say: “Go to the Master who made me!” From this we see that it is possible to exist even such a state without doing anything simply by treating the matter frivolously and continuing to exist in the same spirit.

True seriousness arises in a person after one sees through the point in the heart, and to the extent that one is allowed to see (even if only to a small measure for now), that everything they are composed of now is opposite to the Creator. This is not yet even “Ibur,” the state of an embryo.

After sensing one’s oppositeness, a person must come to humility; a state where one lowers oneself. What does this mean? Humility does not consist of my bowing my qualities before the qualities of the Creator, but in my accepting the advice to go “by faith above reason” with all my qualities.

The acceptance of work “above reason” is called work in seriousness. That is, it is not enough only to see one’s qualities; one must also relate to them correctly. And then, from this it naturally follows that the next state will be only one: prayer.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?”

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The Contrast Between the Creator and the Creation

115.07In absolutely every respect we are opposite to the light, to the Creator, so much so that we are almost incapable of imagining anything that would be even remotely close to Him. Therefore, our qualities are revealed to us gradually so that we do not suddenly feel ourselves standing before a colossal mountain of egoism whose magnitude cannot be described.

This is a terrifying opposition! From here all the way to infinity it is gradually revealed to us to what extent our entire form, all our qualities, are completely opposite to the Creator.

If only one quality in us were opposite to Him, then we could measure it in relation to all our other qualities. Through this one quality we would form a correct view of all the others and would be able to see their incongruity with the Creator.

But because our sight, touch, smell, hearing—all our sense organs—are also opposite to Him, we have no means whatsoever to perceive this. Consequently, it seems to us that everything is in order. For this discrepancy to be revealed in a person, there must be a revelation from above, since from the very outset we are absolutely unprepared to perceive any contradiction whatsoever in the reality that exists.

For this we must have a well‑developed point in the heart, it being the only quality that goes beyond the bounds of this world. Then, relative to it, we will be able to examine and analyze all other qualities.

Therefore, only to the extent that the light shines to us from above and develops the point in the heart will we be able to perceive how opposite we are to the light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?”

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Your Soul Teaches You

256Comment: Until you have entered the spiritual world, what you read in the books, such as “do this, do not do that,” does not help you at all, and yet this is very important.

My Response: Until a person has entered the spiritual world, of course they not see which of the commandments are performative and which are prohibitive. One does not discern the structure of their soul: which Kelim they possess below the Tabur and which above the Tabur, which of the desires they can use for the sake of bestowal and which they cannot.

Comment: But one can simply read what is written in the books.

My Response: Everything is written in the books, but you cannot use the information as a basis for performing a self-analysis. It is only at the moment while holding the book in your hands, you read and feel, or suddenly see something with inner vision and distinguish these things within yourself, then you recall where this is described in such a form. This is called “a man’s soul teaches him.” Then you transistion to practical Kabbalah and perform corrections upon your desire.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/26, Rabash, “All of Israel Have a Part in the Next World”

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Jerusalem—A Symbol of Unity

935In the spiritual sense, Jerusalem is the point of connection between the souls and the upper system. If we speak of the city itself, it is completely unique and has a special status for Israel, because it is the place where the Temple Mount is located and where the Temple stood; it is the symbol of the connection of this world with the upper world.

Jerusalem is a symbol of unity. And it is known that it is precisely unity that makes the people of Israel special and chosen. Without it, our people would not have attained the degree of Bina, of bestowal, which is symbolized by the number 40 (the forty years of wandering in the desert), and the land of Israel, which means straight to the Creator (Israel, Yashar‑El).

All this became possible thanks to the work they carried out, through their ascents and descents and through overcoming all kinds of obstacles along the way.

When we work against egoism to foster our connection, we attain a desire directed to the Creator; this is a state collectively referred to as the “land of Israel.” Subsequently we arrive at a special, perfect city (Ira Shlema), called Jerusalem (Yerushalaim).

Within this city lies a mountain (Har), that is, a special set of doubts (Hirhurim) through which we acquire the vessel of receiving for the sake of bestowal (the First Temple), followed by the vessel of bestowal for the sake of bestowal (the Second Temple).

All these spiritual states are attained only by unity. We are not speaking about stones or a geographical location, but rather of the Jerusalem within the heart, that is, the process of constructing a relationship defined as perfect awe or the perfect city (Ira Shlema). It is the place of connection between us and the upper force, the Creator.

Everything is expressed through unity. Where there is unity, there is the land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount; but where there is no unity, none of these things exists either. Therefore do we truly reside in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem today?

Strictly speaking, no. For now, these are only potential concepts intended to direct us toward attaining their essence, that is, correct connection. Only then will we find ourselves in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, and upon the Temple Mount.

Baal HaSulam explains that we were granted the land of Israel for a time as an opportunity to realize our unity and attain redemption, that is, the revelation of the upper force. Redemption is freedom from one’s egoism—for each one individually and for all of us together.

Therefore, our primary task lies in working toward unity against egoism. In doing so, we will reveal Jerusalem in our heart along with all the other, deeper, inner qualities that will manifest within it.

“Jerusalem, built like a city which combines in fellowship, the city which confers fellowship on all of Israel” (Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi ,Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Chagiga).

This means that if we attain the spiritual state called Jerusalem, we become a single people of Israel, as if one man. In this lies the symbol and the essence of Jerusalem. Nowhere else, in no other nation, is there such an approach. Because in the people of Israel, everything is always revealed only through unity—without which there is no people of Israel, no land of Israel, and no Jerusalem.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/17, “Jerusalem Day”

Mutual Influence in the Group

938.02The greatness of the Creator and His glory—which we constantly talk about in the group, and thereby elevate Him—is in fact a means by which a person, based on constantly turning to his inner self, begins to turn to the Creator.

This can be seen even in simple examples. You came here at three o’clock in the morning, you could care less about anything, and you are still half-asleep. The most that you can think of is feeling better. Let’s say that you are not in a good state, that you feel low, and that you have no interest in anything.

There is nothing you can do; you have already come here, you are listening to the lesson, and you are catching all sorts of words and conversations of your friends. You observe that they think differently, that they are in high spiritus, and this starts to inspire you.

When you are inspired, a certain shift, whether you intend it or not, takes place within you regarding your attitude toward life and the purpose of life; as a result, you become capable of exerting some effort. You can say, “Yes, I am making efforts, but they are all based on the elation that I got from the group. Had I not come here, had I not sat here listening to all kinds of things, I would not be inspired. But now I am in a great mood.”

True. But you have already paid for it by coming here. After all, everyone is just like you, and everyone who comes here affects the others in some way. Then, in fact, if you influence everyone so that everyone influences you in some way, and all the benefits from this will be yours.

You are not running on someone else’s fuel, you are running on your own fuel. Then you fulfill another law, another condition, despite the fact that you do not see the goal or the Creator. However, you already understand that it is good that you do not see Him because it does not tempt you to enjoy seeing the Creator for your own sake.

It is good that the Creator is hidden, and that you can get a push toward Him from the group, rather than from Him directly. After all, had you received an impulse directly from the Creator, you would instantly fall into pleasure for your own sake: “Look who I have a connection with! Look who is giving to me! Look at me!” The fact that I receive a push from the group toward the Creator supposedly frees me from the problem of making the first restriction on my Kelim while still obeying the law.

Therefore this work is called the preparation period. Because I have started work and I have made a certain number of efforts, efforts that I must go through according to the root of my soul, I reach a state where I am given a Masach (screen). Then I merit the revelation of the Creator, and to receive forces from Him.

When I see the Creator, I am able to selectively accept, not pleasure, but only the strength to get closer to Him. From the light that comes from Him, I will take what I need to correct my Kelim, but will not use Him to fill them. After I correct these Kelim, I will fill them in order to get even closer to the Creator, to become even more like Him. This is how a person ascends the spiritual ladder and moves from law to judgment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/26, Rabash, “What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?”

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Is it Possible to Avoid War?

963.4If you make war and do not see that the evil inclination is angry with you, it is a sign that you do not even know what “for the sake of the Creator” means.

…the bad is actually within us, but we do not see it. Only through the dispute does it appear. Hence, if a person is at peace with it, he is hopeless… (Rabash, “Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes at All”).

What is the difference between peace before a dispute and peace after it? It would seem obvious that the best situation is to have no disagreements at all. Why become enemies, hate one another, quarrel, and then reconcile? Is that really better than always living in peace, love, unity, and friendship?

Why are bad periods necessary? What benefit do they bring to the good periods we later attain? Why is peace after war better than peace without war?

On the corporeal level, this is unclear because everything takes place in vessels of reception that do not change. If they do not change and remain egoistic, then why should I suffer during war if I can make peace before the dispute begins? Then I would live well and calmly, without suffering.

But if I arrive at peace after war, I understand that war is not good. Essentially, it gives me nothing except the understanding that it is better to live in peace. And since I did not have enough wisdom to establish peace before the war and avoid descending into it, now, after the war, I guard the established peace with all my strength, until once again the desire to receive increases and pushes me back into war. In other words, the demand of the will to receive becomes stronger than my ability to restrain myself from war.

And so, it keeps returning, giving me no real possibility to prevent wars.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/26, Rabash, “Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes at All”

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“Good That Does Good” is Simply Good

294.2Question: How does the Creator, who is referred to as the “Good that Does Good” differ from the image of the Creator that is revealed while wandering in the desert?

Answer: “Good that Does Good” is not the name of the Creator; it is a supreme primordial concept. It is a designation.

“Good that Does Good” is later subdivided into specific influences, which, in turn, include Taamim (tastes) and names.

“Good that Does Good” is plain good; nothing can be said about it. This can be understood once we have attained all other concepts along all the steps of ascent.

The Creator wants us to know Him as the “Good that Does Good.” To come to understand this, you must ascend all the steps, and at each step, you attain how He relates to you, which is part of the “Good that Does Good” in a certain facet.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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Whatever Is Destined for the Soul, It Will Endure

294.4Question: Do you have a fear of suffering? Suppose you get sick or something else happens to you.

Answer: No, there is no fear. It is unpleasant of course, because it involves pain and disagreeable sensations; in other words, the absence of light within me is expressed in the same way as in others. There is nothing to be done about it; like everyone else, I would prefer to avoid it, but I understand where it comes from, and I do not fear it.

A Kabbalist believes that the plan of the Creator must be fulfilled, and I do everything to align myself with that plan. As for what is intended for my soul, whatever metamorphoses it is destined to undergo, it will undergo. The main thing for me is to prepare myself so that I can be with the Creator in all these transformations even if He performs very unpleasant “surgical operations” on me.

Question: Are you talking about the suffering of the physical body or inner suffering?

Answer: By “surgical,” I mean internal operations. Of course, this could include physical and physiological ones here, naturally.

When Baal HaSulam was asked: “Surely you could make it so that you do not have to suffer before death?” He answered: “I would never allow myself that.” And he indeed had a very painful death. He suffered from cancer, heart conditions, and various other ailments. He endured great suffering. He did not pass away at such an old age, he was around 70. What kind of years are those?

If a person truly understood the extent to which even these sufferings, which serve as a vessel for spirituality, move him forward, and realized that he has the capacity to rise above them, he would not remove them, he would rise above them. But what is meant here is not an ordinary person who simply suffers like a small beaten animal, but a Kabbalist.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Sufferings of the Kabbalists.” 10/8/10

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Establish a Connection Between the Parts of Adam HaRishon

938.01We are not capable of beginning spiritual work without that spark that is given to us from above. If billions of people do not have this illumination, then there is nothing for them to do. They are not yet able to develop a spiritual Kli, because they do not have that point from which it begins its existence, what is referred to as a black point or in other words, the point in the heart. That is the spark.

Society offers nothing to my Kli except encouragement and inspiration. How can I receive this inspiration from the group? It is through the system in which we are all included together, within the soul of Adam HaRishon. Because in the aggregate, all of us, all souls, are interconnected in a rigid system. It cannot be broken into separate parts, nor can anything fundamentally new be formed from it.

This structure is called Adam HaRishon (the first man). It has a head, throat, body, legs, and arms, in short, a spiritual Partzuf. We study this in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

What do we mean when we say that the Partzuf was shattered? The connection between its parts was broken, severed, because previously love prevailed between them, and now hatred has arisen. Consequently, what we call the Temple was destroyed; meaning, this entire Partzuf was destroyed because the mutual connection between its parts vanished.

The very act of striving in whatever way possible, even to a small extent, to re-establish connection between several parts of Adam HaRishon gives me that force of connection that corresponds to the true force that actually exists on the spiritual level, which is where this system is realized fully, in all its strength and power. Therefore, we can receive strength from one another.

By striving to connect with a greater number of friends according to my overcoming of that initial shattering that occurred between us, I as if draw the connecting force of the higher degree. And then, a spiritual force appears at my disposal with the help of which I advance. This is called attaching additional Kelim to myself, additional strength.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/26, Rabash, “What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?”

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MAN is Always Perfect

272Question: Must MAN (raising a deficiency, a prayer, a request) be complete, perfect?

Answer: MAN is always perfect. I raise the Reshimo even though I do not know what I am raising. Moreover, according to my development, no greater participation is required of me than what I am capable of. If I feel a lack, I cry out, and that is sufficient.

On a higher level, in addition to the feeling of lack, I need to know to whom I should turn with this Hisaron (deficiency). One level higher still, I need to know why I am doing this. And higher still, know what this will give me and even higher, what this will give the one who bestows to me.

The connection is expressed through a cry! And there is nothing else here. From our side, the connection is only in the cry. And from His side, it is expressed in thousands of ways that we do not know because they are mostly concealed but could be partially revealed.

But even in what is revealed, there is still much more that is hidden, even at the stage of the final correction. After all, this final correction is only relative to our Kli and not to the system that was created by the Creator. We can speak only in relation to the creation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/26, Rabash, “Moses Went”

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Prepare to Enter the Spiritual Path

749.02Question: You said that until now all your students have not developed as a group. Then how did they develop? What kind of process was it?

Answer: If we take the history of humanity as a basis, then from Adam to Abraham there were twenty generations, so-called “ten plus ten Sefirot,” which constitutes the growth of egoism.

Following, in the state of “Babylon,” in the time of King Nimrod, who is a prototype of Pharaoh, there was an enormous, explosive growth of egoism.

After that, a person “fled” from this egoism with the help of a point within him called “Abraham,” and took along a small portion of desires toward the land of Israel (“Israel” – Yashar El, meaning “straight to the Creator”), with which he supposedly wants and is able to exit his ego.

Then these desires also begin to grow more and more, and within them an entire “Egypt” appears, the foundation of all of egoism.

That is, within desires that had already developed to the egoistic level of “Babylon” and with which a person first approached spirituality, egoism appears again. You purify it to the level of striving toward the Creator, work on it, and then the ego appears again within you. You purify it again and direct it toward the Creator, and then it appears once more, but at a higher “resolution,” and so on.

Thus, from the initial aspiration toward the Creator, called “Adam,” to Abraham, there were twenty generations, that is, twenty degrees, on which you constantly strive toward the Creator and must continuously choose: extract this aspiration and discard everything else as husk.

From Abraham onward begins a new stage of selection, a more refined sorting of the aspiration toward the Creator. A person leaves the entire vast “Babylon” of his desires and escapes with a small portion of desires that he selected from the quality of Adam through those twenty so-called generations, i.e., degrees.

Now, when he is in this state of selection, of subtle sorting, that leads to clarification of what it means to “strive toward the Creator,” he discovers that all of this turns into a huge egoistic desire called “Egypt.” Egypt (Mitzrayim) in Hebrew means “concentration of evil” (Mitz Ra).

A person enters these desires, develops within them, and tries to separate Pharaoh, who represents the foundation of his egoistic desires, from the “Jews” in Egypt: Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and Jacob. He tries to determine which of these desires truly represents a pure aspiration toward the Creator, and realizes that it is not a single desire, but only their combination.

When he selects their correct combination, leaving everything else in Egypt, he sees that he cannot simply separate from them, he must do so through an “escape” (a special inner action), internally detaching and fleeing with these desires. It is with these desires that he strives toward the Creator, toward the quality of bestowal, toward spirituality. This inner state is called the “Egyptian night.”

A person undergoes immense sensations of crossing the Final Sea (Red Sea), symbolizing the final egoism that separates him from the Creator.

Then he comes to the next stage called “Mount Sinai,” where all the qualities with which he fled Egypt undergo numerous processes of purification, like gold that is refined through heating, melting, treatment with acid, and filtering, removing all impurities until pure gold remains and everything else is cast aside.

Each time he approaches the next stage of purification, he sees that everything previous, which had seemed 100% pure, turns out to be almost completely impure and unfit for further use.

That is, each previous degree, although completely pure at its completion, appears entirely impure when viewed from the next higher degree because the resolution of his analysis has increased. This is how he gradually ascends from degree to degree.

Ascending Mount Sinai means that a person reveals within himself absolute hatred toward everything: the Creator, himself, and others. This terrible state leads him to the decision that he must make a radical change: completely nullify himself and accept the upper governance without any calculations, doubts, or personal desires.

In other words, he becomes ready to detach from all his current egoistic desires, thoughts, and abilities, and not use them anymore, and to use only those qualities that he will receive from above, from the Creator.

Why “from above”? Because he considers them higher than himself. In reality, they do not come from anywhere, it is simply how he evaluates them. In his system of values, they are now higher. This readiness is called “standing at Mount Sinai.”

What condition of the next stage does he now feel within himself? It is the condition of unconditional, unquestionable unification between all parts of creation so that they merge within him into one single whole. Indeed, that is how it truly is; the Creator created one unified desire. The moment a person reaches the point where he can first form this unified desire within himself is called his entry into the spiritual path.

Everything before that was only preparation, not to mention the state before Adam when a person existed like an animal. Then comes the preparation for spirituality: from Adam to Abraham (to Babylon), from Abraham to Moses (to Egypt), from Egypt to Mount Sinai, all of this is preparation.

Such preparation takes many years. In the past it took 20 to 30 years. In our time, it is shorter, perhaps 7 to 10 years. But still, these are years. They continue to shorten, because the masses are moving forward, and purification is taking place within the collective soul.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Rise Up the Stairs” 9/27/10

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