1. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 41. What Is Greatness and Smallness in Faith?
We must know that the lights of Pesach [Passover] have the power to impart the light of faith. Yet, do not think that the light of faith is something small, since greatness and smallness depend only on the receivers.
When one does not work on the path of truth, he thinks that he has too much faith, and with the amount of faith he has, he can dispense to several people, and then they will be fearing and whole.
However, one who wants to serve the Creator in truth, and constantly examines himself, if he is willing to work devotedly “and with all your heart,” he sees that he is always deficient in faith, meaning that he is always short of it.
Only when one has faith can one feel that he is always seated before the King.
2. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 41. What Is Greatness and Smallness in Faith?
the one who seeks the truth is the one who needs the light of faith. If such a person hears or sees some way to obtain the light of faith, he is happy as though he has found a great fortune.
Hence, those people who seek the truth, on the holiday of Pesach, which is capable of the light of faith, we read in the Parasha [Torah portion], “and they believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses,” because then is a time that can impart that.
3. RABASH, Article No. 14 (1987), "The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror"
in order for the lower ones to have a need to receive great lights, they must be faced with strong Klipot [shells/peels], which a person must draw great lights in order to break. Otherwise, he would be content with little. It follows that Pharaoh’s hardening of the heart causes them to draw great lights.
4. RABASH, Article No. 14 (1986), "What Is the Need to Borrow Kelim [Vessels] from the Egyptians?"
The whole matter of the exile in Egypt was in order to receive Kelim [vessels] and a need for the great lights, called “inheritance of the land.” This is what Abraham was perplexed about and said that he did not see that his sons would have a need for these great lights. And since there is no light without a Kli, it turns out that even if there is a desire to give them, they have no Kelim in which to receive.
For this reason they were given the exile in Egypt where through the questions and arguments of the Egyptians they will be continuously emptied from what little Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] they had acquired, for they suckled from them. For this reason they will always need to ask the Creator to illuminate their way for them so they can go forward. But they say that they kept going backwards.
5. RABASH, Article No. 14 (1987), “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”
Since Abraham saw the magnitude of the inheritance that He had promised to his sons, Abraham thought according to the rule that there is no light without a Kli [vessel], meaning there is no lack without a filling. He did not see that the children of Israel would need such high degrees and attainments in the upper worlds, which is why he asked the Creator, “How will I know that I will inherit it,” since they haven’t the Kelim [vessels] or the need for the great inheritance that You are showing me that You will give to my sons; they haven’t the need.
To this, the Creator replied to him, “I will give them a need for the lights, just as I will give them the lights.” In other words, the Creator will give them both the lights and the Kelim. Do not think that I bestow only the abundance. Rather, I bestow upon them both the need, which is called Kli, and the abundance. This is called “lack and filling.”
6. RABASH. Letter No. 48
By satisfying the lack that one has for spirituality, a greater lack appears. That is, afterwards he obtains bigger Kelim (vessels), and through these Kelim he receives bigger lights because he can already call upon the Creator, as our sages said, “Open for me one cleft in repentance, as the tip of a needle, and I will open for you gates for wagons and carts to enter.” That is, a person should keep the “to him you shall open” even if it is only as the tip of a needle.
7. RABASH, Article No. 22 (1989), "Why Are Four Questions Asked Specifically on Passover Night?"
Since there is no light without a Kli [vessel]—meaning no filling without a lack, and Abram said to the Creator that he did not see that they would need such great lights, called “the land of Israel”—the Creator told him that by being in exile and by asking the Creator to deliver them from exile, how will He deliver them? Only with great lights, since “The light in it reforms him.” Thus, then they will have the need for the great lights.