Working above reason and below reason, following the path of faith and the path of reason, these things are not very easy to understand. This is because a person who is still preparing to cross the Machsom and begin the true work, the work of the Creator, does not yet perceive these concepts clearly enough.

A person does not yet have a sense of the bestower, the higher degree, and therefore, does not clearly distinguish between the concepts of faith and reason. He does not understand that reason means receiving in the mind and heart, receiving into one’s Kelim (vessels), whereas faith means the presence of the upper one in the vessel. Moreover, faith can exist only above reason, and only when it stems from love and awe.

However, during the period of preparation, there are sometimes cases when this distinction—above, within, and below reason—manifests itself as branch and root. Then we begin to understand that spiritual definitions are somewhat different from corporeal concepts.

For example, we do not understand why the action performed by Adam HaRishon (the first man) is called a “sin.” Before learning about this, we thought that he had the opportunity to avoid it and act differently. We assumed that it had been committed intentionally, and only because of that it was called a sin.

But as we study the sources, we understand that everything had been prepared in advance, and that if he had not done it, there would have been no possibility of achieving the necessary correction.

In other words, the action itself had been predetermined in the thought of creation even before Adam HaRishon was born. If so, how can we say that he sinned? When we say that Adam HaRishon sinned, we do not quite understand what we are talking about.

Baal HaSulam and Rabash explained that a “sin,” when a person supposedly sins, is not actually a sin, and the person is not to blame for having performed that action. Rather, things are arranged for him from above in such a way because he is meant to be brought down to a certain degree from which he must begin his correction.

Thus, what appears to us to be a sin is not a sin but a punishment, not because the person has previously done something wrong. When you are brought down to a certain degree, we call it a punishment, whereas in spirituality it is called a sin.

We learn that every time a person ascends, acquires a higher degree, and reaches the completion of his current degree, he receives the next degree in darkness. “The day is Yours, and Yours also the night.” In other words, he begins to fall once again, receives an additional measure of the desire to receive, and begins to overcome it and work from within the darkness.

We do not understand that a bad state—when I am distant from holiness, do not want spirituality, feel despair and weakness, and no longer sense a connection with spirituality—is not a sin or a punishment. On the contrary, it is a reward. This is because a person is being given new Kelim, new desires that he can withstand and thereby attain a new degree.

Sin, punishment, and reward are very unstable concepts that do not correspond to the meanings we are accustomed to in this world.
Because Adam HaRishon fell into self-love, a “sin” occurred, which in Kabbalah is called a punishment. And the punishment itself is his going through various difficult states in which he suffers and makes tremendous efforts.

But this is no longer a punishment; it is his correction. In other words, we evaluate these states according to how they feel to us rather than in relation to the goal. That is why it seems to us that the terrible state a person finds himself in comes as a punishment. But in reality, these are corrections.

Therefore, when we begin to experience these states, we must approach them from a spiritual perspective, in terms of the goal. If we transfer all these concepts from the realm of our animalistic perceptions into the realm of spiritual concepts connected with the goal, considering how things appear in relation to the Creator, we will see that they take on an entirely different picture and look completely different from how they appear in our world.

Each definition shifts from its place and exchanges places with another concept. Then, instead of punishment, we see reward; instead of reward, we see preliminary preparation that does not depend on the person at all; instead of sin, we see the beginning of a new, predetermined state, and so on.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/26, Rabash, “When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator”

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Question: I don’t understand: If something is impossible to achieve, then why is it forbidden?

Answer: The impossibility of something does not yet guarantee that I won’t want to achieve it. A prohibition implies that you must bring yourself into line with it. “It is forbidden” is a condition under which my corrected attitude toward these Kelim or toward this state corresponds to the prohibition.

That is, I must acquire such corrections that, even if it were permitted, I would myself establish a prohibition, taking the place of the Creator in relation to this subject. And then it would mean that I have corrected myself and risen to the appropriate attitude toward these vessels.

Question: So does this mean that all these restrictions, in essence, are given from above down as an example?

Answer: All restrictions are imposed from above downward as an example of the fact that we, for our part, must comply with these restrictions even in the absence of a prohibition. And this means that I am truly corrected. The Creator, who has no limits, imposes a restriction on Himself and contracts Himself. Despite the fact that this is very, very difficult for holiness, He still does it in order to allow me to achieve the same state.

And if I want to establish a relationship with the level on which He stands, I must also reduce my desire to receive, just as He reduces His holiness and light.

That is, I must reduce the Kli so that, relative to this stage, I act in the same way as the Creator, even if He does not exist. I came to the conclusion that this state is the most perfect. Thus, it is determined that at this stage I am in the stage of infinity; after all, every stage is perfection.

According to my Kelim, this refers to the revelation of Infinity to me, a part of the final state. However, how can I know which part it is? For me, this is perfection. And therefore, every stage, every state in the spiritual realm is perfect.
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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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Question: Where does the clarification of the concept of bestowal take place? Is it within the ego itself?

Answer: Of course. Within egoism we begin to sense that there is some other part in our heart, a point in the heart, that gradually expands and seeks to understand how it differs from the heart itself.

It wants to separate from the heart and see itself as something that does not belong to the heart. This gives rise to our our aspiration to clarify the concept of bestowal.

If this aspiration did not exist, that is, if the point in the heart had not slightly expanded, turning from a point into a small sphere, we would not feel any property in it, and therefore would not receive the corresponding illumination of the surrounding light, would not feel the difference between it and the heart, and we would have no urge to investigate it. It is precisely because we begin to investigate it that this question arises.

Moreover, to investigate it, or the Creator, or one’s neighbor is one and the same thing. For outside this point there is neither the Creator nor one’s neighbor. It is simply that two polar concepts are now forming within me: the heart and the point in the heart. Between them, I am, in essence, clarifying my “I,” which is located in the middle, as the future middle line. And if so, then I should already call my point in the heart by the name “bestowal.” Later, it will gradually become my right line.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/26, Rabash, Note 884 “The Rosh Hashanah Prayer”

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Question: Intention exists beyond the Machsom. Do we have any branch of intention here?

Answer: The intention for bestowal begins beyond the Machsom. Here, we undergo preparation. Therefore, the entire period, which may last many years, is called the time of preparation, a preparation for intention.

The fact that you begin to think about how you relate to the Creator is the beginning of a correct intention. Whether it is correct or incorrect does not matter. An incorrect intention is called Lo Lishma, for oneself, while a correct intention is Lishma, for the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

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We see the extent to which a person is dependent on society in everything that society defines. Therefore, our choice lies in finding a suitable environment. I must not be satisfied with just any environment.

In one of his letters, Rabash gives the example of a tailor who finds himself among tailors who are not particularly skilled. If you want to become a true professional, you must be among the best craftsmen.

Suppose you have sewn some item of clothing. If you have done it well, they will tell you so; if you have done it poorly, they will explain in the finest detail what is wrong. In other words, they respect work done perfectly. Among such people, you too will become a specialist and will not tolerate any shortcomings. Everything depends on the environment.

Therefore, if you want to become a skilled craftsman, you need a society that demands precisely this in every respect, and then it will not be difficult for you. All our difficulties, all the problems that arise when we are incapable, lose our way, fight with one another and with our own desire to receive, are caused by the fact that we do not build the environment.

We should not feel any effort in our work if our environment is corrected accordingly, because, by my nature, I will want to do what is accepted in the group. Therefore, being concerned with one’s own spiritual advancement is nonsense, real foolishness. A person must be concerned with establishing the concept of advancement in the group to the degree he needs, and then he will realize it.

We are the direct result of all the desires, thoughts, goals, and the importance that prevail in the group. Therefore, if we are already speaking about correcting the Reshimo, this is accomplished only through working with the environment.

Here we see how correctly all these things are connected within a single topic that you are working on. You work on your attitude toward the group, which is, in essence, your attitude toward the Creator. In response, the environment influences you and awakens you once again to the same work.

In other words, you see that all the beginnings, all the forces, all the prerequisites, and everything that must be revealed at the end are contained in a single topic, and you do not need to scatter your efforts across numerous factors. You have only one factor in which you begin and complete all the work, all the efforts, all the corrections and the fulfillment of the Kelim.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, Notes 882 “Rosh Hashanah”

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Question: In what form can I give to the group when I feel that I am becoming detached from it and that I have no common denominator with it? How can I annul myself before the group?

Answer: If you feel that you have no common denominator with the group, examine yourself. Perhaps the group’s goal does not coincide with your goal, and you are in a position to make some correction. Perhaps you should turn to the group and say, “Friends, I think you are getting it wrong.”

You must shape the group: “Buy yourself a friend.” You are obligated to invest effort and build them up so that they influence you. You yourself must awaken this in the group.

Perhaps your friends are not doing the right things; perhaps everyone acts quietly rather than openly, and this does not awaken you. You do not receive a sufficient impression from it. Or perhaps you do not want to be impressed by these things at all but need to be impressed by something else.

If I want to lose weight, I join a weight-loss group. There, they motivate me through all kinds of means of influence: lectures, discussions, films, anything to ensure that I retain a sense of the importance of the idea. And we must do the same thing. For any society outside our framework, this principle is clear. At any company, in any private business, the main question is: How do we inform the whole world that our product is the most necessary and the most important?

If I produce crackers, I want the whole world to eat only my crackers, not meat or fish, only these crackers. And I want everyone to think that they need nothing else. That is, essentially, what occupies the thoughts of a factory manager. And it should be the same for us. This is called external dissemination, as well as internal dissemination within the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

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Question: How can we build a group that will obligate us to advance in the right direction?

Answer: We see that everything depends on the effort a person invests, not in the people he has artificially surrounded himself with, but in that with which he truly integrates.

Sometimes it helps him to choose a few people with whom it is somewhat easier for him to speak and establish a closer connection. However, as we advance and pass through various states, we begin to understand that it is wrong to close ourselves off in some small circle.

The group has no clear boundaries separating what is within it. The group is a spiritual concept, and perhaps I am not even able to see and outline for myself precisely what it consists of.

Ultimately, all the aspirations, desires, understandings, connections with the higher force, and all the joint efforts we make together constitute the concept of the group. Only one thing is missing: for the greatness of the Creator and the greatness of the goal to burn within it so strongly that they obligate everyone, and no one would have any difficulty thinking about this and living by it constantly.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Rabash, “Rosh Hashana”

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Question: Should we be, in a sense, completely open with one another in the group?

Answer: No, we should not reveal ourselves to one another. Everything depends on how a person internally attunes himself in relation to the group. Externally, the group should only take the qualities we want to attain and cultivate them as something most important.

Then a person who has not acquired them will feel ashamed and afraid of harming the group. He will see that he is lower than the other friends and will want to attain these qualities.

The greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the goal, aspiration toward the goal, contribution to the group, love for one’s neighbor, interest in others—if we cultivate these as the highest values, it will turn out that I will be afraid that these qualities are absent in me, because then the group will despise me.

Everything depends on how the group organizes itself and how a person attunes himself in relation to it. Moreover, he should not do this openly. The group, on the contrary, should speak about the fact that we have such a standard: the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the group, the greatness of bestowal, the greatness of love.

A person is not obligated to reveal himself to the group: “I am bad, I am uncorrected.” He must feel this within himself, and against this background immediately give the group what it demands of him: the greatness of the goal, and so on.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/26, Rabash, “Go Forth from Your Land”

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Question: What is this stage of bestowing for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: What kind of pleasure does the desire to receive receive from bestowing? What does bestowal mean to it? How can we attach the intention for the sake of bestowal to the desire to receive?

For this, I must connect myself to someone outside myself, someone external, which, in fact, does not exist for us at all, and we do not understand what it is. In other words, I must connect my desire to receive with someone else’s desire to receive. This someone could be a friend, the group, or the Creator. Then for me, the Creator is as though a desire to receive, because I care about His well-being, which means that He has a desire to receive.

This is how I imagine it, and I take care that this desire to receive experiences pleasure. After all, this is the only way I can understand it! I want Him to enjoy! Then I connect my desire to receive with some external desire, an external need, and live within this external desire. It has become important to me.

It is as though I detach myself from myself to the point that I care only about what is there. Here, we return to the example of a mother and her infant: the infant occupies all her attention. She works to meet its needs and is not concerned about herself at all.

So, what does bestowing for the sake of bestowal mean? It means doing everything that He desires. At the same time, the pleasure I experience is in Him. I bestow, and bestow, while my pleasure is in Him. Receiving for the sake of bestowal, on the other hand, means discovering that I can give Him pleasure only to the extent that I myself experience pleasure! I enjoy, and only then does He enjoy! This is double connection.

When I bestow for the sake of bestowal, I do not experience the pleasures that pass through me; I am simply present within Him. I am constantly working with His need, and this is my pleasure: what is felt there. But when I work with the desire to receive for the sake of bestowal, I must experience pleasure myself, and only to that extent can I feel that He is enjoying Himself. Now our pleasures work together: our needs operate together as one unified need.

Therefore, in Kabbalah, we say that when bestowing for the sake of bestowal, I work with the Aviut of Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet, whereas when receiving for the sake of bestowal, I work with the Aviut of Gimel and Dalet. In other words, when receiving for the sake of bestowal, I work with the Kelim of reception; when bestowing for the sake of bestowal, I work with the Kelim of bestowal, whose Aviut is relatively small.

In fact, the Kelim with Aviut Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet are also Kelim of reception, but in them I do not feel pleasure from bestowing upon Him. More precisely, of course, I do feel pleasure, but it does not depend on my bestowal upon Him.

It is just like the example of a mother who gives to her child: she does not have to experience pleasure herself in order to care for the child; she only needs to feel whether he is enjoying himself. Whereas when receiving for the sake of bestowal, I must feel my own pleasure, and my sensation of His enjoyment also depends on this feeling. It is as though I unite both our desires to receive—mine and His—so that one depends on the other. This gives a person an unlimited Kli!

When receiving for the sake of bestowal, the receiving Kli is unlimited. When bestowing for the sake of bestowal, you simply bestow; there is no limitation, but the Kelim, the desires, are not revealed. My Kli, my desire, does not participate in this process. It participates only in my concern for Him, and my degree of Bina depends on the Aviut He has; that is, on the extent to which I reveal Him as the recipient of my bestowal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/26, Rabash, “His Law He Contemplates”

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Our entire path consists of descents and ascents. There is nothing in a person that does not break and subsequently get restored. Only by comparing each supposedly bad and supposedly good quality, at the junction between them can we build something, do something, somehow prepare, create an inner Kli, and then fill it.

Therefore, a person must never think: “What state am I in?” This is the wrong attitude. One should not pay attention to the state. A person must always think, “What am I aspiring toward?” rather than “Where am I starting from?” He should never think, “How am I doing?” but rather, “What must I aspire toward?” That is, he must see the quality, the image, the characteristic toward which he must aspire.

Never think about yourself. As soon as you begin thinking about yourself, a descent occurs immediately, and an enormous number of obstacles appear that pull you inward and to the sides. Do not focus on yourself, but think from yourself outward. Then we will quickly pass through all the necessary, obligatory states.

We will understand that all of them come so that, despite what passes through us, we constantly aspire toward the one. This is what must be revealed, clarified, and concluded from reviewing the entire chain of states that we must pass through.

And there are very many of them. Each one is further divided into many others, and a person can pass through an enormous number of all kinds of states every second. This depends only on the aspiration forward. The more I aspire forward and constantly and more clearly and strongly direct myself toward the goal, the faster the little motor turns, which spins these states within me, and the greater the speed of their passage within me is.

This depends on me. If I am not directed toward anything, then this wheel, this chain of Reshimot within me, stands still. If I begin to aspire forward a little, it begins to spin more and more. If I stop and occupy myself with myself, everything stops; everything is dead. Therefore, one must think only moving outward from oneself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/25/26

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