Publications

Question: What place does physical observance of the commandments occupy in spiritual work?

Answer: All the commandments are merely expressions of spiritual laws in our world. Unfortunately, their physical observance gives no result. This is confirmed by the fact that, despite two centuries of Jews observing the commandments, our condition has only worsened.

In the code of laws, the Shulchan Aruch, there are many rules that speak about love for one’s neighbor, about correct and kind relations between people. But we pass over them as if they were written for small children and not for us.

We consider, for example, that the most important thing is to perform the ritual of washing of hands. Yet this ritual speaks about cleansing our hands from egoism, from the desire to take the whole world for ourselves. The same applies to all the other commandments.

It is said that “a commandment without the correct intention is dead.” Therefore, if we observe them only in a physical form, then unfortunately, we will not obtain any positive outcome except an ever-growing egoism that increasingly divides the entire nation, including religious people.

We have come to a state where returning to the condition of connection between us becomes mandatory; without it humanity will lead itself to destruction. And if we take the books of our sages, we will see that they speak precisely about this.
[163436]
From a Public Lecture in New York, 7/20/15

Question: How should an ordinary person who does not strive for connection with the Creator but wants to live calmly and simply on this earth relate to what brings them to prayer, to those misfortunes, to those troubles?

Answer: Naturally, a person does not want suffering or prayer or anything.

Question: And how should I relate to this? Should I run away from them, cut them off?

Answer: Of course. It is best to run away from them; that is what everyone does.

Question: Meaning, if I am not striving for anything and just want to live this life well on this earth?

Answer: In that case, “lo em ve lo s’kharam”—“no suffering and no reward.”

Question: And what is your advice to such people?

Answer: Try to live peacefully. Even lower, even quieter, even calmer. And live like that.

Question: So that the waves pass over us?

Answer: Yes. But that is fate. There are people who want this. There are people who do not agree with it. And there are people who do not agree, but after a couple of blows, they agree.

Question: So one way or another, these blows put a person in their place if they are here and want to live their life here?

Answer: It depends on the root of the soul.

Question: What is the advice for those who strive for the Creator, for connection?

Answer: For them, the most important thing is closeness to the Creator, and it does not matter what the path is, whether they receive a couple more blows along the way, or something else.

Question: So one way or another, they will and must relate to these blows as help?

Answer: Yes. If we strive to achieve connection with the Creator, then various obstacles and conditions are placed before us, and we inevitably see that we cannot fulfill these conditions in any way, only if we receive serious help from above.

Question: Meaning, if we strive for connection with the Creator, then we can be grateful for all sorts of obstacles?

Answer: Of course. The stick—yes.

Question: The stick? So, when, as you always say, “kiss the stick that beats you,” then we kiss it?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And otherwise, we will have to…

Answer: And otherwise, we move with our egoism along such winding paths like little fish swimming.
[352190]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/19/26

In the article “Lishma and Lo Lishma,” Rabash wants to clarify the fundamental difference between these concepts. The difference lies in the kind of fuel that drives a person to act.

First of all, we must understand what our actions are in general, and whether we are their masters. If we act based on the desire to receive, then every time we see some pleasure, some fulfillment of desire, immediately, without any calculations, we want to obtain it. Desire precedes calculation; first the desire is created, then reason. The mind is an addition to the desire in order to achieve what is desired.

Therefore, the moment the desire to receive sees some fulfillment, it wants it, and only then does it begin to calculate how to achieve it and if it is possible, simply to fill itself. If the desire were not hindered by any limitation, it would be fulfilled, and would not require any planning or calculation.

But since there are conditions for filling oneself with pleasure, the desire to receive must undergo a process of calculation to achieve fulfillment. Then it develops a system that we call “reason,” “calculation,” “the Rosh of a Partzuf,” alongside itself. These categories arise because it is impossible to satisfy the desire to receive directly.

It turns out that, to the extent obstacles arise in fulfilling the desire for pleasure, there are more opportunities for mental development and for personal involvement of the desire in this process.

Thus, in order to give this desire independence, it is necessary to place obstacles before it 100% in every state and in various variations of its manifestation, on all paths leading to self–fulfillment.

Only these obstacles will give the desire to receive an opportunity to analyze what I want, why, how I come to fulfillment, whether it is what I want, whether it truly fulfills me, and what is preferable.
[352371]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

Question: The fact that I am holding on to the group is not my choice. The fact that I sit here, listen, read, and discuss are also not my choice. So where then is freedom of choice?

Answer: You did not come here of your own will. Each of us now already sees that we did not appear here by chance; meaning that the Creator brought us. In general, the thought to come, listen, and sit, does not come from me. Everything happened somehow, suddenly, almost unconsciously. It is clear that for the first few months I came and sat here, operating on the fuel received from the Creator.

The efforts begin with descents. Just as the Creator gave me an impulse and brought me to this place, luring me with “candy” to make me feel as if I could sweeten my life here, so now He is taking it away. In order to remain, hold on, and strengthen even more, I need to make great efforts.

The unchangeable spiritual law says: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” The Creator gives you strength, gives you direction, and provides an opportunity, but later you will have to pay for it.

Otherwise, it is impossible. How will I be able to rise to a higher degree if I am not familiar with it, if I do not have enough strength for it, and if I have no connection with it?

We think that in spirituality everything is like in this world: I have strength, I have desires, I can see what I am going to acquire, I make calculations, analyze, clarify, check, inquire. Not at all; everything is different in spirituality. Here, the higher degree is detached from you, not felt by you, incomprehensible to you. And even if you reveal something in it, you discover that it is absolutely opposite to you and repels you.

Thus, the law is simple: “You have borrowed from Me, and I am collecting.” That is, you are given the opportunity, everything is given to you from above, and later you will have to return it. Therefore, the efforts consist in strengthening in the direction that the Creator indicates.
[352430]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam [who described to us this entire path], the way by which to climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1“).

In our world there are inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature. If we want to rise above the human level, we must unite with one another.

If, above all obstacles, rejections, hatred, and unwillingness to unite, we achieve connection between us, we do not need anything else. The science of Kabbalah does not teach us any actions other than mutual unification.

If in any group in any point in the world, people are able to rise above their mutual rejection and connect with one another, they will reveal the Creator, the upper force, the upper world, their eternal image, called the “soul,” because they will create the condition for the revelation of the upper force in the connection between them.

Therefore, the science of Kabbalah is universal; it has no limitations except one: above your egoism, connect with people like yourself who want to unite together in order to reveal the Creator. There are no other conditions beside that.

Baal HaSulam adds to this: There is no point in hoping that the time will come when we will be able to achieve the goal of our development in any other way. Undoubtedly, we achieve it only through connection between us. Then we will see that the upper force is pushing everyone toward connection: the inanimate, the vegetative, the animate, and the human levels.

We see how everyone is connecting more and more whether they want to or not under the pressure of all kinds of problems and sufferings. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, technology and means of communication are developing in this direction. This is how the upper force, the only one operating in the universe, pushes the whole world toward unity through great pressures and sufferings.

However a new, different path has opened for us: we can advance toward unification ourselves, increase the speed of our unification, and work among other selves as in a laboratory, constantly connecting more and seeing what we achieve in the process.

Therefore, according to the advice of Kabbalists, we unite in tens, in small groups, so that it will be more convenient and easier for us and so that we can increasingly connect in a more flexible and manageable way, and see how we reveal the upper force in one form of connection or another. According to the type of our unity, we reveal it, since our vessel determines the revelation of the light in it.

Therefore, we do not have to advance unwillingly toward the ultimate goal where all parts of nature will unite together in an integral, global form as a single whole. We can accomplish this work not under the pressure of suffering, but with understanding, awareness, and self-control; we can choose the speed of advancement, see how we are doing it, and also draw all of humanity to follow us.

After all, if we bring them along, drawing after us, we become stronger, and then the upper force is revealed with greater power, because it is no longer thousands of people who unite, as in our world group, but millions and even more.

Accordingly, we reveal the power of the upper force in all its depth, in all its scope, in all its systems, we attain how it reigns over everything and governs everything, how this entire system operates. This is called the revelation of the Shechinah.

There is no greater pleasure than to see this harmony, how all parts of creation—different, scattered, hating one another, distant from one another—come to connect with each other and between them, not merely a connection is revealed, but mutual love. This fills us and gives us the sensation of eternal life.
[163417]
From the International Kabbalah Convention 7/17/15, Guadalajara, Lesson 1

Comment: In 1938, a Swiss scientist accidentally developed LSD, a drug that supposedly shows a person a different reality. Those who tried it began to look at the world differently and allegedly felt a state “beyond time.”

My Response: I cannot be an expert on this question because I have never taken drugs. I have always believed that they are false, a disconnection from reality. With such means it is impossible to break beyond our world, to rise above time, space, and movement into a different dimension. They are simply various psychosomatic sensations. We disrupt the proper functioning of the brain and therefore supposedly soar in some other space.

It is clear that this has nothing to do with Kabbalah because a person does not acquire the quality of bestowal and love for the surrounding world. A person can somehow be tuned to this with the help of drugs, and be convinced that he will, so to speak, begin to love others, be cheerful, happy, and inclined to communicate with others. But all of this is only because we tuned him in that way and gave him means that suppress the feeling of egoism in him.

It is the same as if a person received some emotional wound or, on the contrary, a great gift of fate, but did not change himself and did not acquire new qualities.

It is clear that those people who take drugs do not become obvious altruists, and they do not see the world as kind, good, and purposeful. They see all kinds of distorted pictures within themselves.

Therefore, this has nothing to do whatsoever with the world that a Kabbalist reveals to the extent that his egoism is transformed into bestowal and love, into a quality opposite to the nature in which he was born.
[351910]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah and LSD” 10/1/10

State 1 (our present state) is “bestowal to oneself” in which our pleasure and desired fulfillment reside.

State 2 (the state we want to reach) is bestowal to the Creator, which will be our pleasure, and here there is a contradiction.

In bestowal to oneself, both the action itself, the work, and the reward are all in one direction, in one line. Therefore, this is called the direct light, and everything here is clear to us; the beginning and the end, and the attainment of this final goal all stream in one direction, toward myself.

But if I want bestowal to the Creator to be my pleasure, then there is a problem of the opposition between intention and result because I need a correction of intention, which is against my desire!

Bestowal to the Creator must turn into receiving pleasure for me! And I am obliged to enjoy it because that is the purpose of creation, but the enjoyment must come from bestowal, and this is completely opposite to me!

The goal of creation is enjoyment, and the correction of creation is bestowal. But these two conditions contradict each other. This is the main obstacle and difficulty in our perception that always blocks our path and deprives us of the opportunity to realize what we intend.

On the one hand, we must apply great efforts and do a tremendous amount of work, and on the other hand, its result does not depend on us; it is given from above. We only reveal the desire in ourselves the desire with our work; we do not obtain the goal itself; we attain the Kli, the vessel that can contain it.

Therefore, these two opposites—bestowal to the Creator and enjoyment from this—can be united only through our adhesion with Him. And only the upper light, which changes our nature, can bring us to this adhesion.

From a state in which the heart rules over a person, and therefore, in the terms of Kabbalah he is called a “sinner,” we must pass to a state in which the person within us rules over his heart, and therefore, is called a “righteous one.” There is only one solution for attaining this goal: a Kabbalistic group, which serves an example for us, a framework, a template in which we can check ourselves and see to what extent we correspond to this goal or not.

The group is able to instill in me that nothing is more precious to me than bestowal to the Creator! But, on the other hand, I reveal that I am capable of nothing and only the Creator can help me. In this way I come to the necessary desire, to a prayer.

But presently, these two polar opposites do not exist in us: Keter and Malchut, direct light and reflected light, the inverse correspondence of light and desire, all exist only in the corrected Kli where the intention is opposite to the desire.

This is the model we need to build within ourselves for the first time, the first ten Sefirot, and then we will acquire an inner structure, like the first cell of a new organism from which the embryo of the soul will further develop.
[20357]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, Rabash, “What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?”

There are four states people go through when performing Torah and Mitzvot.

What does it mean to perform Torah and Mitzvot? For religious people, it is what they were taught at a young age: to perform certain actions and they perform them. If they had been taught other actions, they would performed those.

In this case, as Rabash writes, the reason and motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is external influence. This does not mean that I perform commandments because I am afraid of these people or that I want to be considered great among them, good and righteous, a respected person, etc. It doesn’t matter what other reasons there may be, the main thing is that I do what I was taught, nothing more. In general, I fulfill other people’s desires.

For someone who has been used to doing this since childhood, it becomes second nature; otherwise, he feels bad, and by doing his usual actions, he feels good. Whether a person was brought up this way or converted to faith at a later age, he looks at his environment, which obliges him to perform certain actions.

And indeed, the environment has wonderful laws. You must attend the synagogue. It is not right to not go there to pray. You are obliged to celebrate holidays according to certain rules and to dress in a certain way. You are obliged. Society sets thousands of laws for you. And this means that you fulfill the Torah and the commandments under the influence of external people, and not of your own freewill.

Whereas we are talking about correcting one’s desire. In this case, you set your desire aside, as if you remove it from yourself, place someone else’s desire into yourself, and fulfilled it. This is called a “good soldier,” who uses his body, and, by placing the commander’s desire in it, obeys his orders. For the religious masses, this form of observing the commandments is acceptable, which is very good. Otherwise it would be a mess, chaos.

The second type of motivation for fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvot is the Creator in combination with external people, who promote and compel the observance of the Torah and Mitzvot. That is, a person begins to incorporate a certain admixture into his previous calculations, as if “contaminating” them. He is already beginning to consider not only the environment, but also the Creator.

What does it mean to be with the Creator? This means that a kind of conflict arises inside a person, an internal contradiction. This is not yet a clash of two opposing sides; it is not yet two poles.

Two opposing authorities cannot exist in me at the same time, or I would be torn apart by not knowing whom to listen to, or whom to give preference to. I cannot be aimed in both directions. I have only one desire. I cannot tune in to two, so a problem arises. This is the beginning of the path.

The third condition is when “only the Creator obliges him to fulfill the Torah and commandments; not external people, but the person himself is also the reason for fulfilling the Torah and commandments.” This is the third type of motivation, when the Creator obliges a person to fulfill the Torah and the commandments, and the person himself, as Rabash writes, “is the reason.” I would say that he contributes to this.

And the fourth type of motivation is that the reason for fulfilling the Torah and the commandments is only the Creator, and there is no one contributing to this. This is called “the introduction of the mixed-multitude into Kedusha.” In this case, there is absolutely no other contributing or even supporting factor, where we say that a person strengthens himself along the way and supposedly does something on his own. No, everything is done exclusively by the Creator. But this is the level of complete adhesion with the Creator.

As a result, it is revealed to a person that all these are the ways of the Creator’s governance. It is not that I act one way or another as I advance, but as I work hard, I reveal various factors that compel me to act.

At first these factors seem to be external people, then external people and the Creator, then me and the Creator, and in the end, only the Creator. It is just that in the process of his development, a person begins to reveal what the reason is for his existence, and who is the source of his existence.
[352470]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

Question: Is the revelation of the Creator, in fact, the revelation of a new form in oneself?

Answer: The revelation of the Creator’s face is called the manifestation of His importance because, in fact, this is what I seek. This is not the revelation of pleasure, but the revelation of His superiority, His properties, and His perfection. It helps me to respect the Creator more than my desire to receive.

This desire constantly grows in a person. More and more Reshimot (spiritual records) surface. In other words, more and more of the left line is added to a person. Then he needs to reveal the face of the Creator as a greater, more exalted one who affects him more so that he can resist the desire to receive, and respect the Creator more than his selfish desire. This means that a person has the strength to work for the sake of giving.

It follows that the desire to receive was originally created in the size of the Creator; both are equal in magnitude. However, a person feels the magnitude of the desire to receive only in accordance with how much he is able to overcome it, and at the same time, to reveal the Creator as important and great.

Each time it is like a game. At first, the desire to receive is hidden from us; we feel only a small part of it in the form of reality of this world. In fact, this is the same general reality, only it is called “this world” because we perceive it without taking the Creator into account.

All else, apart from this level, we already perceive in accordance with the reality of the Creator, meaning, we actually feel the Creator, which is called the upper world. “All else” means that we already consider the importance of the Creator relative to the importance of the desire to receive.

This desire gradually grows, starting from the lowest, smallest state, until it reaches the level of the Creator. It helps us to ask the Creator time and again to show us more and more of His importance, greatness, and superiority. And when we reveal the Creator and prefer to bring Him pleasure rather than serve our ego, then we adhere to the Creator’s form, absorb it, adopt it, and it truly becomes our form.
[352381]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29 “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

However, we were given one place on which we can work without any reward. That is, even when we still do not have a taste for Torah and Mitzvot due to the Tzimtzum, there is one advice, which is to work in greatness of the Creator, how privileged we are to be serving the King (RABASH, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma“).

Question: Do these words apply to us who are in this world?

Answer: I want to enjoy. This is how I am. My desire to receive perceives nothing in any other way. There is something before me; I receive it and enjoy it. How can I work differently? I am able to work in another form only if I nevertheless receive some pleasure.

Without pleasure it is impossible to live, impossible to move. I can enjoy only from what I receive. We are confused about this because this is our foundation, which has not yet been clarified. Clarifying it takes years of persistent, serious work.

The question is this: can I move from the place where I am now in any direction by even one meter? My answer is: yes, I can, but only on the condition that you fill me with, say, a liter of fuel, or a hundred calories. Then I will be able to move from one place to another. Where will I get the hundred calories from? In various ways, but I must receive them.

Thus, I have two possibilities. Either I receive the hundred calories from all kinds of pleasures that supposedly exist around me or from seeing how great the Creator is. I have two fueling stations with which to set my desire to receive into motion at my disposal, and that is all.

If I am able to work due to the greatness of the Creator, then I become a perpetual motion machine, and I depend on nothing. In that case, my machine can operate without stopping; it no longer depends on any external, insignificant factors. This is our entire goal!
[352419]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, Article 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

Before the invention of road-signs as a means to put order in traffic, police officers would stand and streamline traffic. At that time, many people were angry and had grievances against the officers for not doing their job right, and that they were not noticing the line of cars.

But today, the streamliner of traffic has become inanimate, mindless. So, now each one accepts the verdict of the road-sign (traffic light), and no one gets angry with it or asks it for favors (RABASH, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?“).

On the one hand, the Creator places a traffic light before us, and these laws of nature are absolute. You can curse the traffic light, but it will not help, except perhaps only in the case that you turn to the cause, to the one who operates it. In our days, sometimes when traffic is heavy, you can see a police officer directing traffic. Then you have someone you can shout at.

But if this cause is unknown, you do not see the police officer, the traffic light works according to an internal mechanism, and you do not yell. You have no one to turn to because the governance is concealed. Nature! From this example it is clear how much understanding the cause raises you to a different level in relation to the situation.

If I know that it is the Creator who arranges everything for me, then I immediately turn to Him. I do not look at the traffic light; I look at the police officer. If I see both the police officer and the traffic light, I look at the one who directs the traffic because salvation will come from there. Then all the laws of nature lose their importance.

That is why the Creator does not reveal Himself. Because if He were revealed, I would cling to Him because of my will to receive, and I would never be able to come out from under its control. This is what originally happened with Malchut of the world of infinity. In order to free oneself from this, there must be a restriction, a distancing, and the desire to receive must be corrected into a desire to bestow.
[352322]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

Baal HaSulam’s “There Is None Else Besides Him” is a special article that addresses our relationship with the higher force, that is, with our lives, with what happens to us, how we can understand this life, and how we can form a more correct perception of it.

It is said that there is no other force besides the Creator, and that only He governs everything. If a person feels that there are many different, contradictory forces, this is done deliberately in order to knock us off the correct intention that only one force exists, and thereby, on the contrary, to strengthen our orientation exclusively toward it.

Precisely through being directed toward the Creator and being pushed away from Him through rejection by all kinds of means, a person begins to understand that everything comes from the Creator and in this way completely binds himself to Him.

This is not achieved easily; it takes many years. After all, our entire life is structured in such a way as to reveal the oneness of the Creator. Therefore we must constantly remember that “there is none else besides Him.” This is the main commandment for a person in our world, where everything is arranged solely to divert him from the direction toward this single force that governs him.

The benefit of these rejections is that a person begins to understand that he cannot be connected to the Creator by himself, he cannot hold onto the thought that all disturbances come from the Creator, and that everything happening to him directs him toward the Creator.

In the end, he becomes despairing, does not know what to do, and precisely through the Creator’s “negative help” (which exhausts him and tosses him from side to side as if there were other qualities, forces, problems, or illnesses in a person, anything at all except the Creator), he reaches such a state that, despite all these actions, he nevertheless rises above them and clings to the Creator.

Only through correct overcoming of all obstacles can a person cope with these disturbances. Yet one sees that there are always more obstacles. Rarely in our lives do we feel that everything comes from the Creator and that we are directed toward Him.

Usually such thoughts occupy only a few minutes a day, and only if we think about it at all. If we do not, days, weeks, perhaps even years, or an entire lifetime can pass in such a state.

But if a person constantly tries to create a community, conditions, and an environment around himself that will inevitably push him toward the Creator, then he can truly grasp Him, not let go, and beg that the Creator holds him, so that through all the events of life he may be directed toward the Creator.

Everything depends on the extent to which one can implore the Creator to open one’s eyes and heart, so that he may feel in his heart and see clearly that he has a connection only with the Creator, and that only the Creator directs him, turns him, and guides him.

In general, everything that happens to us is done by only one force. It is neither good nor bad. First and foremost, it is simply one force. And when a person begins to understand the plan of creation, he already evaluates this force as positive.

It becomes clear to him that all the rejections were necessary only so that he would not be satisfied with a small connection to the Creator, but would truly reach states in which nothing else remains for him in the world; it is either death or adhesion with the Creator.

Then one develops a very clear appeal to the Creator, and asks Him to truly help and give him the strength that would unite him with the Creator forever.

Now he understands that all the obstacles that seemed insurmountable to him and that he hated were sent by the Creator Himself, and that arose within him only in order to push him away, and at the same time to truly draw him closer to the Creator. For precisely through the obstacles was he obliged to go against them and thus connect with the Creator more and more until complete adhesion.

And the Creator very precisely measured the obstacles given to a person. Knowing human nature, He sent absolutely correct, exact obstacles to each person individually, so that by pushing off from them, the person would again draw closer to the Creator.

This was done so that a person would realize that everything is carried out by only one positive force, and that there is no other force in the world besides the Creator. In other words, there are no negative forces in the world.

The negative force is the person himself, his egoism, and around him there is only the Creator, who directs only positive force toward us. And if we evaluate this correctly, then no problems arise, and we move forward solely along the path of drawing closer to the Creator.

In Kabbalah, unlike all other philosophies, methods, and sciences, there is another special aspect: a person begins to understand that he has no freewill at all. Various thoughts arise in his mind and desires in his heart, and he has no control over them since this is all governed by the Creator. That is, the Creator is within a person, and governs his mind and heart, his thoughts and desires.

And we can do nothing about this. From all the events that happen to us, we must only establish that there is a single source: one unique, unified, higher force.

And no matter how we act, correctly or incorrectly, we must understand that it is the Creator who leads us through all kinds of actions. Therefore there are neither crimes nor punishments in the world. There is only one thing: everything was created in order to reveal the oneness of the Creator. We must reach this state.

And all our worries that “if everything comes from the Creator, then what depends on us?” are mistaken. We must be careful not to worry about ourselves, be detached from our “I,” and feel ourselves above it. Only then, by correctly distancing ourselves from ourselves, can we recognize the oneness of the Creator’s governance.
[257570]
From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/1/19

Question: What does awe before the Creator mean? How can one attune oneself to this sensation?

Answer: It is said in The Book of Zohar that awe before the Creator consists of three parts. If we seriously move forward, we begin to feel our egoism, how it leads us forward and pushes us toward certain attainments and achievements. It forces us to worry constantly: Will it be better for us in this life, will we become smarter, stronger, more knowledgeable, more understanding, more advanced; will we receive something in this world or in the future world?

Gradually, we begin to attain that the spiritual world is not beyond the boundary of death, and the death of our body has no influence on anything whatsoever. Spiritual death means that we simply remain in our Reshimo. And everything that happens to us depends only on how much we realize our Reshimot and create a spiritual Partzuf from them, that is, a corrected part of our soul, and try to develop it to a complete level where the soul includes all the rest of creation: the still, vegetative, animate, and human parts of the soul.

Therefore, awe speaks of what I fear. It is a natural protective function of egoism, which constantly trembles: Will I be able to receive or not, now or later, am I sure of this or not, have I lost what I acquired, did I earn more today than yesterday, and so on? The state of awe is the most essential thing in egoism: It constantly trembles lest it lack fulfillment. This is its fundamental property.

Our task is to transfer material awe into spiritual awe: Will I be able to bestow? Will I come to such a state where I think less about myself and more about the external Kli (vessel)? Do I include myself in this way, do I awaken to the quality of bestowal? Do I cross the psychological barrier where I am not within myself, but outside, where my soul actually is? Within me there is only my egoism, and my soul is outside of me. I must make a Tzimtzum (restriction) on my egoism, impose a prohibition on it, and develop my attitude toward others. Can I do this?

It is precisely here that a new awe appears: Will I be able to bestow, will I be able to be independent of my egoism, will I be able to create the Rosh (head) of the Partzuf?

Suppose we have a desire over which we build a screen (Masach) and work with the light above it.

What we create above is called Rosh (head), and below is the Guf (body).

We strive to reduce the awe, the anxiety for ourselves, that we feel in our desire. This is what we perform the first restriction, Tzimtzum Aleph (TA), upon, then we build a screen and work above it.

As is known, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection; therefore, to the extent that we correctly perceive the upper light, to that same extent we can work with it.

By transferring awe from “concern for myself” to awe as “concern for others,” I include myself in their desires, which is called “love your neighbor.” Thus, I build the Rosh of the Partzuf, and this becomes the connecting link between me and the others. In the Rosh I define my soul, which is built above the body, above the screen. In it, I can include the entire world and the Creator. This is how it works.

Therefore, as we study in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” concern can be within oneself and outside oneself.

Concern for oneself usually turns into anxiety about what will happen to me in this world and in the future world. This concern is absolutely incorrect, because there is neither “this world” nor “the next world”—such a concept does not exist at all.

There is a world, a spiritual state, that I can enter even today. It is called Olam Haba, that is, the coming world, the world that is coming. The next minute, my next state, is called the “future world.”

Therefore, we must rise to concern for others, including the Creator, which is realized above the screen. It is this concern that determines the power of the soul.
[119478]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/13, on the topic “Group and Dissemination”

The Torah is called “613 counsels,” meaning 613 tips by which one is rewarded with vessels of bestowal.

Afterward, once he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal through the Torah, he must receive the delight and pleasure that is found in the thought of the Creator. That delight and pleasure is also called “Torah,” meaning that at that time, the 613 counsels become 613 deposits (RABASH, “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”).

The Creator created the desire to enjoy, but He wants this desire to enjoy bestowal rather than reception. Therefore, it must undergo changes, and must do so independently, according to the principle: “We shall do and we shall hear.”

Where is this desire found? It is in the human species, at the human level of development. As Baal HaSulam writes, after all examinations, we find only one advantage of man over the animal: the impulse to work for the Creator and to adhere to Him. One in whom this impulse exists is called “human” (Adam). If this urge, this ascent, has not yet been born within him, then he is called an “animal.”

And yet it is said in Psalms: “Man and beast You save.” All gradually draw closer to awakening toward adhesion with the Creator. And having awakened, they begin to act according to the principle “We shall do and we shall hear.”

“We shall do” means the correction of the Kelim, when we carry out the 613 counsels. And “we shall hear” means the filling of the Kelim through the 613 commandments, that is, deposits, investments, when the corrected Kelim enters a contribution, a pledge, meaning the light.

Through correction and filling, by means of counsels and deposits, we come to realization: all our 613 desires are corrected from reception to bestowal and are filled with the upper light, or the Creator. In the end, we find ourselves filled with Him, or in adhesion with Him, when He fills us.

Therefore, the Torah (the method of correction) was created only for those who wish to correct their egoistic desire with an intention to bestow. Only they truly engage in the Torah. After all, “Torah” is the light that returns to the source (the reforming light). One who does not exist for this purpose is not called a “human” who carries out correction.

If we were to look at our world through spiritual lenses, we might see here perhaps only a few humans. All the rest would belong to still, vegetative, and animate nature, including many animals in the form of people, though this is only an external resemblance.

If a person has not awakened to correct himself and to attain the height of the Creator, it means that he is still at the animate degree of development. The method of correction was not created for him, whatever he may be engaged in. He may be a great erudite, he may consider himself righteous, but if he does not care about correcting his evil inclination every second, he is still called an “animal.” And therefore, it is said that all are like animals.

Thus, we must respect the desire that has awakened within us that is directed toward adhesion with the Creator and respect the friends in whom this fire also burns. We can unite among ourselves so that the common desire of all will dwell in each one. Then, upon this great desire that encompasses everyone, we will draw the light that returns to the source, and it will indeed unite all our desires into one great, already corrected Kli. It will be filled with the upper light, the Creator, and thus we will become similar to Malchut of the world of infinity, as it is said: “He is one and the Creator is one.” He is the light, and the Creator is the vessel, the Kli, HaVaYaH.

Thus, it turns out that the entire world was created for correction. In the end, all will have to correct themselves and come to adhesion, of which it is said: “All shall know Me, from the smallest to the greatest.”
[35945]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Rabash ,“What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”

Question: Why is achieving the purpose of creation such a complex, multi-stage process that includes descent, ascent, and shattering?

Answer: Because from the very beginning it consists of two components that are opposite to each other: the light and the desire (the vessel, Kli), which build a connection between each other based on their opposite nature.

The process of development proceeds from two conditions and dictates a single law of development: what are initially two opposites ultimately must come to complete similarity.

The entire process inevitably follows from these initial and final conditions. We cannot replace anything in it or act according to a different logic. The conditions are rigid: the initial condition and the final condition.

Condition 1: There is an infinite distance between them.

Condition 2: There is their complete union to the end the very end.

Initially, one is entirely giving and the other is entirely receiving. On one hand, there is an infinite abyss between them, and on the other hand, there is a final point where they merge into one whole.
Now try to write a formula by which, from the first condition of complete opposition one can reach the second condition of complete similarity.

In the world of infinity, both the separation of these two components and their union already exist. Although there is light and desire there, they are fused and complement each other. This fusion is maintained by the power of the upper light.

That is, the final condition is initially ensured by the power of the light, the Creator. This enables us to reveal the formula for how to carry out this transition from one state to another.

The potential conditions have been created, now the realization must begin. And the whole reality is now sequentially unfolding, scene by scene, before our eyes; they are those very creations that exist in the world of infinity. We never leave it.

In this single place (the desire) created by the Creator, the light and the desire and the condition of their union exist; and all of this is now being implemented. Therefore, we ourselves are called the actions of the Creator, the results of His work: creations, works, beings.

It is impossible to change anything here: the conditions themselves, the initial and the final ones (“the end of the action is contained in the initial thought”), already determine everything that will happen, including the shattering.
[19390]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Comment: Many people find it very difficult to accept the external form of Kabbalah that we express in songs and dances. Why do we adhere to it? Why don’t we try some other form? You say that Kabbalah is a science, and if you gave lectures as is customary in universities, how much more could that help spread Kabbalah?

My Response: I do not think that this would help its dissemination. Ninety-nine percent of the people on earth do not need our science at all. They need to feel good and safe, and this is expressed in pleasant communication with each other, in pleasant unity.

By nature, I am a completely unsociable person. Moreover, I am ready to sit within four walls all my life and would not feel it as a prison at all. I have my computer, my books, and what is inside me. That is enough for me! What can the world add to me?

But in order to advance spiritually, we need this earthly world. Therefore, I go out into the outer circles; otherwise, I would not teach.

I understand that positioning ourselves as an open university would be much more respectful than this kind of blurred picture of a kindergarten for overgrown kids where they dance in circles and sing. It is not clear at all what it even looks like.

But joint meals, songs, and dances were accepted among the ancient Kabbalists since the times of Baal Shem Tov. I think that it was so both with The ARI and with Rabbi Shimon. This is a natural expression of people’s inner feelings, their longings, and their desire to be together.

We understand that when people sit in a circle around a fire and sing together, it unites them. We see nothing strange in this. These can be indigenous peoples in South America, Africans with spears around a fire, Europeans who sit at their tables, Japanese or Chinese squatting; it does not matter who and how. This is accepted everywhere because this is a method of unification, an expression of feelings.

Naturally, in Europe, such an external expression as in Israel is considered very strange and, I would say, repulsive. But since we must first of all correct Israel and then the rest of the world, we are forced to act in this way. I see that this is being accepted in the rest of the world as well. I myself am not a fan of large circle dances, but people begin to behave this way spontaneously.

I prefer to sit by a fire, sing, and talk. From this I receive greater excitement than from dances, when people jump around and embrace their sweaty companions.

There are people who are drawn to this, and there are those who are inspired more from an inner sensation that comes from attainment, from understanding.

Either through the heart or through the mind are two completely different methods of correction that have come to us. One came from the ARI (through the mind), and the other from the Baal Shem Tov (through the heart). And they are both equal.

In our time, it is still difficult to say which way we are going. Although I thought and Baal HaSulam wrote that our time is the time of The ARI when one must prove, demonstrate, and explain with the mind; nevertheless, I see that what influences people more is precisely “let us drink and dance.” Because this goes from heart to heart through a common desire.

That is, songs and dances are needed, but they require greater inner deepening.

Question: How did Rabash relate to this? After all, he had some principles of his own. Since he lived in an Orthodox environment, he must have had both an external and an internal form.

Answer: His external form was very simple; he looked similar to everyone else. But inwardly, he was completely different from others but did not show it.
[352091]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Mind or Heart” 10/1/10

The world stands on the word, on God’s word. In the beginning was the word, and the word was God’s, and God was eternity, and so on.

Question: Can you explain this?

Answer: This means that the world stands on the quality of goodness, on the quality of love. All of this comes from the upper one and not from us.

If it came from us, it would not exist for a single second. After all, we are a negative energy in the world.

The Creator holds us, and He holds the world. If this were not so, nothing would exist. And meanwhile, we are a parasite on this world.

Question: What does the Creator rely on? What does He want by holding us?

Answer: He does not rely on anything. He governs us in such a way that a person eventually grows to understand how the world should be governed and takes the place of the Creator.
[352138]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 1/16/2026

Question: Today’s children do not want to listen to older people. What would you do if your students were the same, if they were disobedient and did not want to listen to you?

Answer: Wasn’t I like that myself with my parents? Did I really obey them in anything? They enrolled me in music school; I left it. Moreover, I left with a big scandal. They tried to push me to a medical school, but I ran away from it as well.

I did everything my own way. I went to one college, and I did not like it. I went to a different one, graduated from it as an external student, moved to Israel, and found an occupation for myself: Kabbalah. Why? For what? I abandoned a profitable business and so forth.

From their point of view, it seemed that I was doing everything possible against them: “After all, there are two doctors in the family, but the son is completely different.” He chose some path, he attached himself to some eighty-year-old man, and dedicated his life to him. From the age of thirty he devoted himself to being next to this old man and to learn from him. What can one learn from an eighty-year-old teacher without an education? To study some Kabbalah, wickedness, mysticism?

Imagine this was the early 80s. They looked at me as a very strange person, someone with an education, a wonderful business with opportunity to develop, and suddenly he left it all. What for? In order to study who knows what. During those years it seemed completely abnormal.

I couldn’t explain anything to them rationally at the level of our world. What was I gaining in money, in health, in wellbeing, in better education for my children, in life? The loss was in absolutely everything.

Therefore, no one supported it. When my parents asked religious people, “Our son is engaged in Kabbalah. What do you think? What is it?” they would answer “We feel sorry for you.” Hence my parents were at a loss. I understood it, and I felt for them.

It means that I was a rebel no less than today’s youth. My rebellion was not in wearing a cool jacket or a hat or shaving my head in a special way. It was a serious rebellion against the entire way of life. This rebellion is when you abandon an opportunity to earn millions, to live in luxury, to travel around the world, and so forth.

Comment: Disagreements between fathers and children is a well-known theme: the eternal struggle of generations.

My Response: No, before it was a battle of the greater egoism of the young generation and the lesser egoism of the previous generation when the latter did not agree with small changes made by the next generation at the same animalistic level.

However, now something completely different is taking place. Now the young generation totally rejects the way of life that the previous generation had. Now there is an absolute re-evaluation of values. It is not the kind of values where I need a car instead of a cart or a city instead of a village. The dispute is that I do not want to live if I have to live like you.
[351541]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Children of Israel, Part 1” 10/1/10

Question: How can one feel the desire to receive as evil?

Answer: Suppose I stole something and was caught. At that moment, I scold myself: “Why am I stealing? I must put an end to this, because I feel suffering from having such qualities.”

This also applies to our work. It is said that Adam HaRishon was a thief. Any reception without the intention to bestow is called theft.

If I were to see this as evil, I would rid myself of it. It is said: “The advantage of the light is revealed from within the darkness.” If I knew that through acts of bestowal I would reach good, then I would see that the act of reception brings me to evil.

How can I see this? Either through suffering when I perform actions within the desire to receive and receive blows. Then I simply do not want to have this desire; I want to restrict it.

“Less wisdom, less suffering. Do not demand much, and it will be better for you. Why chase after something? Sit quietly, and everything will be fine.” This is how the whole world understands it.

This path is called the path of suffering. But nevertheless, we are not able to live and advance by this path, because our desire to receive is constantly developing and burning. And although we do not control it, it nevertheless demands its due, and then, whether we want it or not, we make use of it. However, we suffer even from the fact that we want to use it, but we do not receive what we desire. This is called the path of suffering in its various forms.

And there is the path of Torah, when through study and various actions, I begin to reveal that in spirituality, in the intention for the sake of bestowal, there is a great attraction, very significant things: eternity, perfection, and attainment, which does not exist at all within the desire to receive.

Then I see that the desire to receive is evil, not because I receive suffering within it, not because I get caught when I steal, not because I desire but do not receive fulfillment, but because it does not allow me to reach the good things that exist in spirituality. Thus, I begin to compare the desire to receive with spirituality, and therefore, I simply want to remove this desire from our world, remove it from myself.

This is called the path of Torah; it is when I begin to see the desire to receive as evil and wish to move to bestowal by means of the upper light which illuminates me just a little. In this, the desire to receive does not interfere with me. The greater it is, the better. I do not destroy it, I do not go against its development, since this will not help me anyway. On the contrary, I take it in its entirety and begin to demand from the light that it return it to good.

Therefore, the path of development when the light that returns to the source operates is natural. It goes together with the development of the desire to receive and with the development of humanity. This is the only path that can give a person an answer to all questions.

A person asks: “Why do I suffer?” Then do not suffer, use the desire to receive that is developing within you, but use it correctly. Therefore, the use of the desire to receive with the intention to bestow is the perfect answer to all questions. You do not need to restrict yourself or artificially flee from pleasures. On the contrary, you begin to use the desire to receive with full force.
[352168]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, Article 12, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

Only light and Kli that exist in the universe. Just as light has different kinds of manifestation before Kli, so does the Kli have different ways of feeling itself. It feels itself in this world as either inanimate, vegetative, or animate where it is not aware of itself at all, does not know what it is, and acts solely in accordance with its desire to receive.

These are the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels where creation does not see itself from the outside, and cannot study itself. Then follows the degree of “speaking,” “human,” when the creation can relate to its desire to receive and to all its qualities from the outside. However, this is also very subjective.

Even if it perceives itself incorrectly, cannot understand what is inside the desire to receive, and does not see that all this is predetermined in advance, nevertheless it tries to know itself as some kind of independent point, as a neutral objective researcher who studies himself from the outside.

When can the creation, the Kli, truly judge itself completely freely? When it receives the opportunity to look at itself from the Creator’s perspective. To the extent that the Kli acquires the desire to bestow, it can relate to the desire to receive in the same way the Creator relates to it. And there are no more than these two points: either to relate as creation or as the Creator.

If a person acquires the Kelim of bestowal, then he can see that there are two worlds, that is, two kinds of awareness, sensations, that exist on two planes. And before he receives the Kelim of bestowal, he does not understand at all that there is some other angle of vision, completely different from his own.
[352318]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 1/25/26, Rabash, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal AreaSign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

PublicationsArticles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of KabbalahThe content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.