We learn from sufferings that the desire to receive feels within itself. That is, we have not yet exited into spirituality; we merely think that spirituality is good because we cannot escape from the blows otherwise. This is still a completely material state!

Be that as it may, through this work I draw closer to wanting to rid myself of my desire to receive, to free myself from the need to think about myself, because even the slightest thought about myself causes me immense suffering.

I am afraid to think about myself, just as a kleptomaniac is afraid to steal. He loves to steal, and can do nothing about it; this is his nature. There are very great, very rich people who simply cannot live without it. They go into a store and must steal at least some small thing. This is what fills them; they are unable to restrain themselves.

They could easily pay a million dollars for the item. But having paid a million dollars and receiving this thing, they would not feel pleasure. Their pleasure is precisely in the fact that they steal it. A person knows that he will not be able to restrain himself. And so it continues until his horror reaches such proportions that he must flee from his desire to receive, otherwise he will inevitably be caught or face death.

All this still takes place within the desire to receive. But hatred toward it, as it were, distances a person from this desire. And then a miracle occurs—the miracle of the exodus from Egypt. This is carried out at night, in deep darkness, in complete misunderstanding of what is happening, when a person does not see what is happening to him or how.

And so it is at every degree. Every transition from one degree to another, every new state that comes to a person, occurs at a time when he understands nothing, is unfamiliar with this new state, and is confused. But after all this confusion and inability to orient himself, a new, more enlightened state arrives.

In the end, you yourself begin to seek this, and to expect it within the same desire to receive; you become confused, lose your way, and lose your bearings, only so that along with this a new, better state may come. Nevertheless you still want this in your desire to receive.

And when a person truly comes to what is considered “the exodus from Egypt,” this is called a miracle. For this is a state that a person himself cannot create in any way, since it is a borderline state between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. A “cut” passes through it to infinity, to the point of “something from nothing,” and therefore it is called the splitting of the “the final sea” (Red Sea).

The final sea is not our tiny desire to receive that separates us from the spiritual world. “Yam,” “sea,” is the final Kli of Hochma, including all of its “final letters,” all of Malchut; to such a depth does this cut extend. A person crosses it, and only afterward is it revealed to him what he has passed through. This is the most perfect miracle.
[360626]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Question: What does acquiring the true power of faith mean?

Answer: It means that everything that awakens within me, even if it is opposite to the Creator, even if it is uncorrected, I will be able to correct with the help of the power of faith. The power of faith is the sensation of the divine, the sensation of perfection, the sensation of eternity, the sensation of the importance of bestowal for the sake of bestowal. Everything that we feel in spirituality or in the Creator is the quality of bestowal.

Now everything that seems to you to be something good, warm, soft, gentle—I do not know exactly how you feel it—everything that you define as good for yourself, translate all of it into one single word: giver. Not something that gives to you, but precisely the quality of bestowal.

It is something soft, gentle, good, but not in relation to myself, where I am the receiving side, but rather this is the quality itself. And if I want this quality, then this is how I must be. That is, to take upon myself the quality of the giver—to be a giver and to feel what I perceive, as we say, as gentle, warm, good. It is the same thing.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

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Question: If you ask the Creator for something, must you ask only for what you want to receive without specifying the way in which to receive it?

Answer: If a person asks the Creator for something while also dictating how they want to receive it—as if to say, “Help me in this or that specific way,” it means they are setting conditions for the Creator. But do you even have the wisdom to ask for something, assuming, of course, you know what to ask for?

If you ask for something that helps you in your advancement, then, of course, you receive an answer. If you ask for something that is not quite correct, then either you receive no answer at all or you receive something that certainly advances you, but it is not at all what you would have wished for.

Therefore, the correct prayer is a prayer without any conditions, when I ask for what in His eyes is advancement. And whatever I receive, however much I receive, I will accept it all as advancement. But if you already have such a desire, what is left for you ask for? After all, the specific nature of what you receive s no longer important to you since you believe that it represents advancement.

Question: How can one ask the Creator for the surrounding light, the light of AB-SAG?

Answer: In what way can you ask the Creator for the light of AB-SAG?! How do you even know what this is?

We study what the Kli (vessel) asks for. But the Kli asks because it is already in the spiritual world. And there, prayer must exactly correspond to the state of the Kli.

Question: But I do not feel this, so how can I be in connection with the Creator?

Answer: Indeed, you cannot be in connection with Him, in connection with the truth. Not now. But after the Machsom you will have a certain measure of fusion with the Creator—small, like an embryo, or a little more. And then, in accordance with this, you clarify the Kli at each step. You know in what state you are; you know what is the Achoraim (back side) of the upper, which now wants to raise you and can perform certain actions upon you.

Advancement is fully controlled, and knowledge is present in it. One goes, of course, above knowledge, but knowledge itself exists. You are on a certain spiritual degree, which is your knowledge, that is, the measure of filling the Kli with light, the measure of revealing your connection with the Creator, with the soul. And you go above this.

But at the same time, you have an attachment to the vessels, to the light. “Above reason” does not mean that knowledge itself does not exist. This is how it happens with us. We know nothing about our current state. And we struggle to imagine the subsequent states.
[359882]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

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Question: If the quality of bestowal is itself a pleasure, then what constitutes its fulfillment?

Answer: Bestowal is the fulfillment; nothing else is required. If I bestow, I derive pleasure. Of course, to exist on the level of the giver, I need to know to whom I am bestowing and how He derives pleasure from my act of bestowal. In other words, I must incorporate His Kelim (vessels) and His Hisaronot (deficiencies) within myself.

I must unite with the Creator and acquire all His Kelim, all the pleasures that exist in Him by virtue of Him filling me. It is like a child who has reached the mother’s level and feels everything that exists within her in relation to him—both in the Kelim and in the pleasures, how she experiences them in relation to him, how she receives everything from him and derives one hundred percent pleasure from him.

In other words, by wanting to return even the smallest pleasure to the Creator, the created being must attain the Creator in all His greatness.

The quality of bestowal seems to be something insignificant to us, as though someone simply gives and thinks of nothing else. On the contrary, the form of bestowal obligates a person to attain enormous Kelim, whereas the form of reception does not. This is because during reception, the Kelim become closed off and no longer want anything more: “I’ve already had enough; I feel good as I am.”

The Kli already begins to fear that it will disappear, because it is imprinted by the pleasure it desires, and a greater pleasure (unless a new Kli is awakened) extinguishes it.

Thus, it is precisely the form of bestowal that obligates a person to grow without limit, continuously, and to remain in a constant state of ascent.
[359498]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,’ in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 219

How Can We Bestow If There Is No Connection to the Creator? To Whom Is This Desire Attributed?

The desire to bestow is not attributed to the person. Suppose we could perform some action like making ourselves a sandwich, enjoying it, and attributing that pleasure to the Creator: “You, the Host, created this entire world for me and brought me to enjoy this sandwich. I would like to feel You so that I could show You how much I enjoy the sandwich. But in truth, it is not the sandwich itself that I enjoy. Rather, I enjoy the feeling that You prepared this for me.” In other words, we reach a state where we lack something, where we need to feel the Creator so that we have someone to thank.

We can begin with this and see that the Creator will reveal Himself. Even if we merely think about thanking the Creator, He will reveal Himself. The Creator is ready for this, because it is truly for the sake of bestowal, regardless of the fact that it concerns nothing more than a simple sandwich.

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The writing says, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God, for you have failed in your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity and take good, and we will pay with the fruit of our lips’” (Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”).

What does “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” mean in spiritual work? It refers to an instruction that is, in essence, the original goal that must be realized throughout the entire path, so that a person reaches his root and becomes completely realized in it: “unto the Lord your God.”

What does “unto the Lord your God” mean? It means that all of a person’s qualities come to equivalence of form with the qualities of the Creator. This is called return, repentance: “Return, O Israel.”

In Hebrew, the word “Israel” can be understood as Yashar-El,  straight to God. Therefore, one who is called “Israel” must reach a state in which he returns each of the desires that constitute his soul to the Creator, that is, he acquires a screen and works with that desire with the intention to bestow.

A person already possesses all these desires. Gradually, by acquiring a screen, the intention to bestow, he returns them to the form that belongs to the Creator.

This is what it means that he returns until he reaches “the Lord your God,” thereby acquiring the same form, the same image, the same abilities, and the same attainment that the Creator reveals to him. They become, as it were, partners existing on the same level, like Zeir Anpin and Nukva of the world of Atzilut, which are on the same level in continuous face-to-face adhesion. This is the purpose of correction.

Then, after correcting this entire soul, these receiving vessels that he possesses, a person rises into the first three Sefirot (GAR). What does this mean?

A person rises above his body, which has already been corrected, and begins to attain the Creator’s thoughts, His desires and intentions that preceded the Creator’s attitude toward him, that is, preceded his creation by the Creator. These are called the “three upper Sefirot,” and the lights revealed in the vessels of the three upper Sefirot are called the “secrets of the Torah.” On the other hand, all the lights revealed in a person’s corrected vessels are called the “flavors of the Torah.”

In spiritually, “man” (Adam) is the Partzuf MA, meaning the lower seven Sefirot (ZAT), in other words, Zeir Anpin and Nukva together. And the ones above ZAT, the three upper Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, and Binah, and the lights revealed within them are the secrets of the Torah.

The lights revealed in the seven lower Sefirot are called the flavors of the Torah.

Therefore, until a person has attained return to the Creator with his entire soul and all his might, that is, until he has corrected all his vessels and filled them with all the lights so that all the flavors are revealed, he is forbidden to touch the secrets of the Torah. They are above him; this is a higher degree.

It is written that they should be concealed rather than revealed. Only one who has “filled his belly with Talmud and laws,” meaning with the flavors of the Torah, and has risen to a higher degree, comes to study the three upper Sefirot, the secrets of the Torah, which are called the foundations of receiving, the roots of the receiver.

Therefore, while a person is undergoing corrections on the way to the end of correction, the reward for revealing the flavors of the Torah is very great. But the reward for concealing the secrets of the Torah is also very great, because a person does not fail along the way: He conceals the part whose time has not yet come and reveals the part that he is capable of correcting.

Those who have already completed the entire part of the flavors of the Torah move on to the part of the secrets of the Torah, which is referred to as “at the age of over forty.”

This occurs according to special, known laws, when a person has already acquired the entire Masach, all the qualities of Binah above his desire to receive, above Malchut, and has thereby truly corrected the entire Malchut with the intention to bestow.

Then he reaches what is called “middle age” [literally, “stable age”], meaning that he stands at his full height, having filled all his vessels with receiving in order to bestow. From “forty years” onward, he begins to rise toward the secrets of the Torah, truly meriting the Lights of the three upper Sefirot and attaining the Creator’s intentions.

Before that, the purpose of our efforts is unknown to us. We cannot understand, attain, or clarify what the Creator’s intentions toward creation are for ourselves.

In order to formulate this somehow, we say that His desire is to do good to His creations; that He created them in order to delight them; that He had a desire to reveal Himself, to dwell within the lower ones, and that He created them in order to fill them, as if to enter into them and reveal Himself within them.

Even our Kelim (vessels) understand that these answers do not satisfy us. These answers will become genuine answers only in the Lights of the three upper Sefirot. However, the very fact that we are able to ask these questions already tell us that one day we will receive the answer.

After all, all questions arise from empty Kelim, which were created by the light, the fulfillment that preceded the Kli. And, of course, this fulfillment will eventually fill the Kli. Therefore, at some stage, our questions will be filled with answers, with lights.

Thus, the instruction “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” must be fulfilled in every person.
[360445]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Comment: Almost everyone who studies Kabbalah with us came from secular rather than religious backgrounds.

My Response: We should not confuse the two paths—what is incumbent upon me and what the Creator will do. I am not in control of what comes from above, but I do know what I must do from below. So from below I prefer to be Jewish. What does “Jewish” mean? In one way or another, to belong to the Jewish people in the national sense.

I am not saying that a person must look like someone from an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem, and adopt that specific attitude to the country, the army, and his responsibilities to the state. However, one still needs to live within the same framework as the people, and our people have no other framework apart from what is called “heritage.” In one form or another, this is necessary.

Suppose someone comes here who has no idea what Passover, Sukkot, or the other holidays are, who knows nothing at all. We need a little more than that. This is what I am talking about, and not about becoming ultra-Orthodox.

Question: To be “traditional”?

Answer: “Traditional,” but genuinely so. The problem with being “traditional” is that the parents are traditional, while the person himself has absolutely no understanding of it. He only does his parents a favor by coming for the holidays. And then the third generation is completely lost.

In short, a person is a “beast.” If he wants to become a human being, fine; we will help him become one. But as a “beast,” it is better for him to be in a good “herd,” in an enclosed place and under good protection. Then he will be well. You can see what happens to people when an entire generation has no boundaries. Look at what is happening.

Do you really think that through their “free development” they have achieved something? Nothing. They think they have brought about a flourishing. What flourishing? There is nothing there. They think that thanks to this they can bring something new to humanity. Nothing will come of it. What else can a person extract from his own skull? What kind of development is this? Nothing is actually happening to them. Ultimately, it leads to prostitution and drugs.

If you could only show me some other solution, but there isn’t one. According to Kabbalah, there isn’t one either. There is nothing for a person to seek in a secular way of life. Nor is there anything to seek in a religious way of life. Rather, a person simply needs to be kept within certain boundaries. You will see how entire nations maintain such boundaries. We are simply unable to do so because our desire to receive is greater.

Do you think anything goes in America? You have no idea what the system is like there. Compare Israeli and American films. American films are full of pride, ideals, and the glorification of America above everything else. Look at the extent to which they are committed to this. Their films are similar to Soviet films, except that they present it in such a form that you do not notice it.

Go to Europe. Do you think you can do whatever you want there? The moral doctrines governing everything are very strict.

With us, however, it is the worst because everyone’s desire to receive is a thousand times greater than that of some gentile abroad. Therefore, an evil arises that can no longer be contained.

In short, a person is a “beast,” and it needs protection for its own benefit. Previous generations have already become convinced of this. I am not saying anything new. In my time there was the generation of the Beatles and the hippies, and what remains of them? What did they accomplish? Nothing. People remained hippies until the age of 30 to 35, and what happened to them? Those who succeeded eventually turned to drugs, while the others suddenly discovered that they had neither a home nor a job, while the rest of the world had moved forward. The same thing is happening with those we are helping break free from drugs.

I am not saying that religious frameworks are necessarily a good thing. I am saying that people nevertheless need some kind of boundaries and some kind of structure. That is essential. After all, we have already been down that road before.
[360653]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

Question: Are there ascents and descents in our state during the preparation period?

Answer: In our state there are also ascents and descents. I experience moments that are good and moments that are bad. I feel connected to the Creator at times and disconnected from Him at others. Sometimes I feel a need for Him, and at other times that I was indifferent to Him. Thus, I have various internal discernments (Avhanot), and now I need to put them in order.

This is called my “self,” my world. There is the “I” that desires to enjoy, and that possesses some attitude toward the Creator, when the Creator is significant or indifferent to me, when I bestow to Him or do not bestow, when I am ready to detach from Him or to connect with Him, or perhaps not ready. And so on. A person must begin to think about this, to live by this connection and this attitude—that is all.

If the Creator seems a little more hidden, closed, and vague for you now, that is why you have the friends. Practice with them. By working with them, you will undoubtedly see very quickly whether you think about them or not, whether it is important to you to fulfill them or not. What do you think about: that it should be good for them or for you, whether the effort is worthwhile or merely a hindrance to you.

You will immediately see that you need an awareness of the greatness of the goal, without which you would simply toss all your friends into the trash bin. You will immediately begin to feel that you are not suited for such a thing, and at once you acquire an inner discernment of what you lack.

All this applies if you wish to advance along this path. If you do not want to, then at least you are aware of it. This is a very effective “laboratory experiment.”
[360623]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Question: What exactly happens during the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine?

Answer: In the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine, I determine my attitude toward the desire to receive, toward my nature. I begin to see that I am under the power of this desire, how harmful its power is to me, and what I lose because of it.

In this world I might be winning and setting myself up quite nicely with the desire to receive, but at the same time I am losing spirituality. After all, if I begin to define the spiritual as bestowal, as drawing closer to the force of bestowal, as the measure of similarity to the giver, then a different assessment of the intention for the sake of reception arises, specifically, how detrimental it is to me if I wish to attain perfection and eternity.

And then it gradually becomes clear to me that the state I actually wish to attain is completely opposite to the one in which I find myself now. I do not like this state called spirituality! I simply hate it! How can one not hate it, for in it there is only bestowal, no thoughts about oneself at all. Who else am I supposed to think about? Perhaps about those people sitting around me here studying?! Where would such a desire suddenly come from?!

As a person makes an increasingly thorough assessment within their soul, they see how unattainable this is. So what is left for them to do?

This is how a person is brought closer to the truth. For a brief moment the truth is revealed to them; then they spend several months processing it and trying to banish those thoughts, yet, despite everything, it somehow continues to work within them.  Consequently, the next time around, they handle it a bit more easily; that is, they fear it slightly less and agree with it by one percent.

In time the concept of intention for the sake of bestowal will be revealed to them again, and they will once again experience shock: “To give to such an extent?! Not to think about myself at all?!”

Again, they try with all their might to flee from this thought, to block it out with everyday activities, to hide behind the work of dissemination, the study of books, anything at all. But gradually, certain internal shifts occur and he grows accustomed to the idea by another percent. “Could this really be true? What if this turns out to be the best state for me?” Nevertheless, he interprets it as follows: “I will give everything, but it will make me feel good.”
[360583]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Question: Can we expect a mass awakening at the still level of holiness now?

Answer: On a mass scale, this is impossible neither among the secular nor among the religious. What does “mass” mean? A million people, just like that? I do not think so.

It does not depend on us, but it will happen. At each stage there will be more in quantitative terms. For example, if this year a hundred people awaken, then next year there will be a thousand.

Question: So, we cannot do anything directly?

Answer: A direct transition to the masses is impossible. In any case, it will involve individuals, but thousands will emerge from these individuals. For example, out of half a million religious people in Israel, five percent may suddenly feel the need to engage in the inner part of the Torah, making it their primary focus. That is possible.

But these 25,000 people will be acting individually. Hasidism won’t come to you looking for a new path; that simply cannot happen. It is a matter of individual work. A specific religious group may seem to you as a unified whole, but the people within it are at different levels of spiritual development.

It will come; there will be a major crisis in the coming years.
[360516]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

Question: What is the difference between studying Rabash’s articles and The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)?

Answer: Every lesson should be divided into two parts. The first part involves spiritual work, feelings, attuning one’s thoughts to what should be sought, and focusing on the problem, on the goal. To this end, we first read the articles Rabash wrote for his students. Then we move on to TES after having been awakened by the article and realizing what we want from life, we approach the remedy, that which can help us achieve what we desire.

Thus, the first part is the analysis of the illness, and the second is the treatment. As I immerse myself in the article, I should experience joy, sadness, gratitude, and a request—a whole range of feelings. Mainly, these will be negative sensations regarding what I do not have, what I lack, what I have not yet attained, but desire to attain. These seemingly negative feelings are the revelation of the lack, the need.

Then, once I have that need and begin the study, I seek the one who will heal my illness: “the healer of all flesh.” I want the light that reforms to come. Now I have a basis for my study and  my approach is correct: I demand correction from the study.

Indeed, my study can yield nother other than correction! All this wisdom described here is completely “external,” directed only toward some connection with the material being studied at the animate level. Internally, however, a person must demand one thing: the correcting force.
[360719]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 218

On Which Desire, Among All Our Desires, Do We First Work So That It Will Be in Order to Bestow?

We have many desires, and we do not work with all of them at once. We work on them one by one. Kabbalists say, work with the smallest desire first, so that we can be sure we will not fail. Once we have completed work on it, choose a greater desire.

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As a rule, we are concerned with ensuring our common desire to receive is not hurt. Therefore I always check to what extent I can use each of my qualities, and show myself in society in accordance with its most respected standards.

If the group I am in praises laziness, then I will be the biggest slacker. If pride is respected, then I will display myself as the epitome of arrogance.

I do this in relation to society, and use my qualities to gain the greatest advantage. It is not that the traits are inherently good or bad; in relation to the Creator they contain neither good nor bad.

In short, whatever lies below the Machsom (barrier) need not concern us. It is only in relation to the Creator that we should begin to worry about who and what we are, about one’s true nature.

Question: Are you talking about the qualities in their ordinary sense?

Answer: No, in the ordinary sense they are merely animalistic traits. But later, when a person crosses the Machsom, these traits cease to be animalistic and become spiritual; meaning, in relation to the Creator, they take on a completely different character.
[359552]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born with Bad Qualities?”

Question: Is the connection with the right line called “above knowledge” and the connection with the left line “within knowledge” or “below knowledge”?

Answer: No, you engage in both in full awareness and full command of the situation. If you find yourself in one of the lines without  exercising the appropriate control, you are not below or above, but are simply immersed in one of them, under its influence.

How can you control them? You must know from the outset why you are entering the right line. If you are unaware that you are in such a state, or even if you realize you are in it but the state dominates you, then it cannot be said that you are truly in the right line. Perhaps this can be called the Klipa of the right line. You are simply being led unconsciously through various states.

You are the one who decides whether it is the right line or the left line. You determine that, for instance, that a certain state is the right line for you, and you proceed accordingly. How do you know that now you have entered the right line? Is it written somewhere that this door is the right line and that one is the left: so just walk in? No!

You choose for yourself what is revealed to you, or what you wish to have revealed. You say: “This belongs to the right line, and what is before me belongs to the left.” It is not that they are located physically to your right or left; this is not the case at all. You categorize all desires, thoughts, and qualities as right or left yourself.

The right line exists above knowledge, above awareness, above comprehension, and above sensation since the right line is the greatness of the Creator, His desire to delight the creation, His promise that we will receive reward, and that the punishments we receive are only corrections.

I do not see all this with my eyes, nor do I perceive it with my senses. Therefore, there is something here on which I must rely. I must fill my senses as though I know this, as though they are full of the sensation of the Creator.

The sensation of the Creator gives me confidence and instills a feeling of His greatness. This is everything! I do not have this sensation, but I must fill myself with the feeling as though I already sense Him.
[360571]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

For this reason, there is a reality where one exercises on corporeal pleasures and afterwards he can come out of the Tzimtzum and concealment to some extent, for he can already choose and say that he is receiving this delight and pleasure only because he wants to bestow (Rabash, Article 33, What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet).

Question: The article says that a person should perform“exercises” on corporeal pleasures. What does this mean?

Answer: We say that we should think about the friends, about the group, and about giving to the friends, in other words, about living through their desires, and about bringing them joy. All of this is not in order to have a pleasant time, but in order to use this as a basis for determining just how far we actually are from the desire to bestow, and how much we loathe the very idea.

It is also about observing how I might attempt to force actions ostensibly aimed at bestowal upon myself and try to live through desires that are external and alien to me. Through these exercises, a person learns and discovers how capable they are of doing this, and how much they are not. Although this still cannot be measured precisely, the person nevertheless learns in order to understand where they stand.

We are not yet talking about a person actually acquiring the ability to bestow. Without a doubt, they are incapable of starting and completing such an action on their own. They only begin it because they must try to carry it out by themselves. But when they fail despite making efforts, it is revealed to them that the Creator must be the main participant and the one who executes the action.
[360665]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Question: Is the middle line I attain not a real state but merely “as if”?

Answer: If now I am “as if” in the right line and move from it to the left, and let’s suppose I arrive at a prayer, at some state in the middle line, is this middle line also considered “as if”? Yes, my middle line will also be “as if.”

But after several of my attempts in this direction, the Creator will reveal Himself to me, and then I will truly feel His importance and greatness. This will give me a real force of faith. And then I will see my qualities as real Klipot, impure forces, completely opposite to the qualities of the Creator.

The more I truly reveal Him for myself, the more I will see my qualities in a true light. This is like the opposition of holiness to impure forces. And then this will be the true middle line, as the force of the soul, the desire to receive for the sake of bestowal, that is, the desire to receive with a screen and reflected light (Ohr Hozer).

One must try many times until we truly merit acquiring this true state, which will no longer be a child’s game. Children also play at something “as if” it were true, and in this game they learn real adult actions.

Before the Machsom, we are as if playing these games. This is called the period of preparation.

Question: Is it possible to build the middle line before the Machsom?

Answer: No, before crossing the Machsom we cannot build a true middle line. Indeed, it cannot yet appear. The true middle line means that I already have properties of reception and properties of bestowal. Before I pass the Machsom, I simply do not have this. My nature is the animal nature, the nature of this world, and it is not my true nature.

Question: What happens when I make many attempts and exercises?

Answer: In this way I gain experience. It is just like in school. First one studies for a long time, and then one can go to work.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

Question: How can I receive the necessary impression from my friends?

Answer: One must be impressed by the environment regarding matters that pertain to the greatness of the Creator. This is possible only if the friends appear great in my eyes, and I view myself as smaller in comparison to them. What my friends do, how they work, what they are occupied with in life in general must truly become a great example for me of people who sacrifice themselves for the sake of spirituality.

Then I will gain an impression of how important spirituality is to them, from what they speak about and what they think. I will recognize how much higher they are than all those who are outside this frameworks and I will be able to compare what fills the lives of people outside my group and those who are inside it.

Thus, one needs to value the friends, lower oneself, listen, and pay attention to how they behave and act. And then I must demand that they openly, and not modestly, perform good deeds and speak about the importance of the group and the importance of the Creator so that I hear it, and not as if each of them were a hidden righteous.

You are able to receive an impression from the environment only on the condition that you place yourself in a position of humility relative to it.

Comment: But this is against nature; it is impossible.

My Response: I do not think that it is impossible. Start thinking about this. It is not against nature. Look at how each one comes at three o’clock in the morning, overcoming all his obstacles. There is an inner intensity within him that sets him apart from anyone on the outside. Consider how special he is given that the Creator chose him to bring here and make an example of for you.

In relation to you, he is an angel bearing a message about the importance of spirituality. He can convey an awareness of the importance of the Creator to you. He has literally descended from heaven and appeared before you in order to tell you that the Creator is important. He is a messenger.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 217

What Is the Difference Between a Person Being Close to the Creator and the Creator Being Close to a Person?

A person who advances and draws closer to the Creator discovers that, from the Creator’s perspective, there is no concept of being “close” or “far,” either from him or from other people. A person is within the Creator all the time, and from the Creator’s perspective he is already in the state of final correction (Gmar Tikkun), from which the Creator relates to him. However, the person feels the Creator’s attitude toward him in a negative way according to the extent that he himself is not corrected.

This is exactly how we behave in this life. How much pressure and how many blows does a demanding mother give when she wants her son to become a doctor? Until he is immersed in it one hundred percent. Until he studies and receives the highest possible grade. Nothing less than that. The more he resists, the more she pressures him.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 216
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 215
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 214

Question: How can I bring the awareness of the greatness of the goal to the surface so that I have fuel for the work?

Answer: By not ceasing the critical analysis of what is happening to you. This is very difficult. It requires great effort of the mind. After all, the mind can only function if it lacks something. If there is no lack in anything, if the mind sees no possibility of being filled by anything, then it does not work in this direction. And if it does not work in that direction, how can you engage it?

If you have no Hisaron (unfulfilled desire), you cannot engage the mind because it is initially capable of working on something only when you have a need for that object. This means that you need advertising—let everyone constantly say that this is important, then you will begin to search for where it lies, and you will think that you lack it.

Question: What is this critical analysis from the side? I must feel my current state, for one cannot hide from the state that we are experiencing, and at the same time look at oneself as if from the side as though it were not me. How can one go out of oneself?

Answer: You are capable of stepping outside of yourself if you enter into the Creator. There is only one of two possibilities: either the domain of man or the domain of the Creator. If a person decides that this is his domain, called “the domain of the many,” that is bad.

It is called “the domain of the many” because you have many desires, each of which pulls in its own direction. And so you are thrown toward money, honor, knowledge, toward one passion or another. This is what is called “the domain of the many.”

On the other hand, there is the possession of the One: only to fulfill His desire. The possession of the One is called the world of Atzilut. If we unconditionally and constantly remain only in the desire to fulfill the Creator, then we are in the world of Atzilut, above the Parsa. And if we do not remain only in this desire, then we are in the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya).
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 8/16/26, Rabash, Article 2, 1991 “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

The concept of “prohibition” in Kabbalah implies an “impossibility.” What does it mean that “one must not teach Torah to idol worshippers”? The Torah refers to the lights that fill the vessels of bestowal. Torah consists of acts of bestowal.

An idolator is defined as the will to receive [in Hebrew, the acronym “AKUM” (referring to a pagan or idolator) literally stands for “one who worships stars and fate.”]

The intention of an idolator is directed not toward the Creator, but toward various other forces, those that are within the will to receive, because there is nothing besides the Creator and the will to receive.

An idol worshipper is one who worships the will to receive. It is impossible to teach him Torah, simply because he has a different intention. He does not perceive the concept of “the intention for the sake of bestowal,” and therefore it is impossible for the upper light to reside in him. But the term “impossible” is expressed in our language by the word “forbidden” or “must not.”

But why “must not”? Why not call the impossible “impossible”?

Because the sages are speaking about the path of correction, they mean the following: “Do not do this because nothing will come of it. It will not succeed.” In short, it comes out as “It must not be done.” “Must not” serves as advice: “Do not do it because it cannot be accomplished.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol Worshippers in the Work? ”