Question: What does a person’s choice actually consist of? After all, if one acts from the desire to receive for oneself, will he be able to make a real choice?

Answer: A person’s choice is not in calculating something and choosing between various options; rather, it lies in constantly forcing oneself to continue the spiritual work. Nothing more. You do not choose the path. You choose where to get more strength for the effort, in order to push yourself a little more, to advance just a little further. Choice is in accelerating time.

What path could you possibly choose? Do you understand anything about the corrections? Do you know what your next state is or what your present state is? How do you move from one to the other? What will come of it? Of course, we are not the ones who do this. If we try to proceed based solely on our own understanding, it is simply foolishness.

Yesterday I met a professor (a very intelligent, insightful person, a specialist in his field, and a senior executive and project manager in a large company. He kept saying, “I have to see, I have to understand…” This is very difficult to grasp. In general, theoretically, we might be able to see something, but regarding oneself, one’s next state, a person never sees anything in advance. After all, the most difficult thing is the recognition of one’s own evil.

We can only apply pressure in order to advance and catch a glimpse of the past. Truly seeing the present is impossible right now. Only after crossing  the Machsom can one see the degree that has been passed. But as long as we have not crossed the Machsom, we have not yet passed even the first degree. After all, everything we are going through now is merely a single degree of our world.
[361354]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
Increase the Speed of Advancement
How Can You Avoid Wasting Time?
How Should We Spend Our Time?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Comment: When a person passes the Machsom, they feel shame before the giver of pleasure. But there is also the act of looking back at everything one experienced up to that moment.

My Response: Even before crossing the Machsom, a person stops thinking about and looking at their past. There is no past. One who constantly looks back becomes like Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt, into something that does not spoil. Salt itself cannot be used as food, only as an additive.

Why, then, do we need to justify everything that happened? Is it so that a person sees that he went through all of this in order to gather Kelim and inner definitions for the present? No one sits like an old man reminiscing about his past at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

If we continue, we will soon become convinced that the past in itself is absolutely unimportant and may be needed only for the present. You will not think about the past or regret something that you once did or did not do.

Such an attitude will disappear because it is incorrect. This is not you at all. You do not need to cross the Machsom for this, because the realization that one should not look back occurs long before it.
[361374]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
It Is Pointless To Regret What Was Swallowed In Ein Sof
There Is Nothing Worse Than Regretting The Past
It Wasn’t Me!

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

A person’s Kli is defined as something from nothing and as a Lev HaEven (heart of stone). In other words, it is impossible to receive light, the revelation of the Creator, connection with Him, and adhesion into my “I” or my Yesh (something that exists) because my Yesh was created from Ayin, from nothing.

But if I make a restriction in my “self,” and this means that I don’t need anything beyond what is essential (and the essential is zero), and I start working for the common good by uniting with other souls, then I will be able to receive the light. Then their stony hearts will no longer be hearts of stone for me, because I nullify myself before them, and they turn into the Tet Rishonot (the first nine Sefirot) for me, into which I receive the light.

When I incorporate their Hisaron (needs), the desires of all other souls, to myself, they transform into my Kli for receiving the light. My own original Kli remains unfit for receiving the light until the end of correction.

What is the end of correction? It is when, by incorporating the 599,999 “stony hearts” that belong to other souls, by correcting the connection with them and nullifying myself (an act known as “love your neighbor as yourself”), I attain the revelation of the Creator. This state is described as being “above myself,” “above my desire to receive.”

It follows that unity with other souls is a means to achieve adhesion with the Creator.
[359705]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 7/20/26, Rabash, Article 27, 1986 “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
Criticism and Self-Criticism
Mutual Relations
Create a Common Kli

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

When a person realizes that they have no intention to bestow and that the Creator cannot unite with them, they begin to understand that they must correct themselves. Since they are not capable of correcting themselves on their own, they must turn to the Creator.

Then it is gradually revealed that the Creator initially prepared everything precisely in this way so that the very act of turning to Him initiates a connection with Him. This unification is the goal.

In other words, the more our state feels opposite to holiness and distant from it, the more worthy it is of connection, adhesion, and attainment of the goal.

The entire path is divided into many degrees because we are unable to immediately grasp the magnitude of the gap between us and infinity. We cannot bridge this chasm at once. Even when the desire to receive is first revealed to us at any given level, it seems to us like a “Final Sea” that cannot be crossed. Yet, gradually we begin to see that this is normal and that it is possible to somehow overcome it.

How does this become possible? In spirituality, there are no habits; there are only inner determinations, forces, and the interplay of forces. So, what does “possible” mean? It simply means that the surrounding light shines upon us from afar and creates the sensation that there are forces and fulfillments capable of bridging this gap between degrees.

Some people, upon sensing this chasm, run away, others persevere, and through the study and persistence, come to see that it is not so daunting after all
[361259]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,” in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Fiery Arc Between Degrees
What do You Understand?
The Donkey Driver

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What difference does it make how one receives pleasures?

Answer: The difference is the following. The Creator created only one Kli (vessel), a desire to receive. He did not create different Kelim for this world and “that” world. No, there is only one Kli. What changes is only how you feel yourself within this Kli.

If you feel yourself as you do now, it means that you are at some degree of this world, since this world also contains a certain sequence of degrees. If you come to spiritual states, you will still feel this world, but in addition to it, you will also feel the spiritual world.

What is the difference? The center of pleasure remains the same. Now you can experience several strictly defined types of pleasure. And when you enter the spiritual world, you will likewise receive impressions from certain types of pleasure, both spiritual and corporeal. These are different garments of the same source.

It is precisely the corporeal garments that clothe themselves over the light that make our world appear to be illusory, or imaginary. What does “imaginary” mean? The pleasure found in this world is not imaginary.

What is imaginary are the garments, because it seems to us that we receive pleasure from the garment itself, rather than from the light within it. This is what is called an illusion or imagination. It seems to me that I enjoy, for example, looking at your beautiful face. But this is not so: in reality, there is some spark of the Creator within you. It is this spark that I enjoy, and not your beautiful external appearance.

In other words, the problem lies only within me. If I connect the pleasure with the spark that is within you, everything is in order. In that case, I am connected with the spiritual. But if I connect the pleasure with your beautiful face, then I am connected with the animalistic garment, with the corporeal world, and this is called the imaginary or illusory state.

“Imaginary,” “illusory” means an error in identifying the source of pleasure. In other words, there is nothing actually imaginary, it is simply what we call a spiritual “error,” when I mistakenly identify the source of pleasure.

This does not mean that this world disappears when one attains the spiritual. Does a Kabbalist who perceives the spiritual world cease to feel this world? He lives in it! The five senses remain. And believe me, Kabbalists experience very clearly through these senses: they eat, drink, and so on. Nothing disappears.

But through all this, the Kabbalist connects himself with the source of all pleasures, which exists only in the Creator, and all these intermediate garments no longer hinder him or mislead him. One can say that they no longer occupy the Kabbalist’s attention, he sees through them.
[359981]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Convert Material Pleasures into Spiritual Ones
What Do We Receive From The Creator?
What Is Spiritual Fulfillment?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What is the reward in “this world,” and what is the reward in the “future world”?

Answer: We learn that there is nothing beside lights (Orot) and vessels (Kelim). The reward in this world is the correction of the Kelim, while in the future world it is that I prepare them for the fulfillment that comes after the Machsom (barrier).

It is written: “I shall be filled with the reward of a commandment during my lifetime.” What does this mean? There are three kinds of reward: reward received immediately, on the spot; reward received while passing through the spiritual degrees; and reward received after the final correction. Everything depends on which kind of reward we are talking about.

The true reward is received in the true Kli, the desire to receive, that is, in the “stony heart” (Lev HaEven), which will be corrected only at the end of correction.

In our world, the reward means reaching a state in which the desire “does not let me sleep,” when I become “sick with love.” At this point, we are not yet talking about the desire for Lishma (for the sake of the Creator), but about the greatest Lo Lishma (for one’s own sake), through which I leap across the Machsom to the smallest degree of Lishma.

After the Machsom, the first spiritual degree is itself called “reward and punishment”: a person examines his Kli according to his sensation, and every action performed with the intention to bestow brings him an immediate result called reward. At present, we still cannot say that this is the case for us.

Thus, each time, reward and punishment change according to a person’s understanding. In reality, he always receives reward, but sometimes it is perceived by him as punishment, while at other times it is genuinely perceived as reward. But who knows in which case the perception is correct, and in which it is not? It is changeable. For us, in our present state, before the Machsom, we simply need to believe that everything we receive is a reward.

Indeed, if a person studies and structures their day so that everything they do is directed at drawing closer to the goal of creation, then everything they encounter along the way benefits their progress toward that goal. They already develop a personal relationship with the Creator, rather than the general relationship like that of the rest of humanity.

What is the difference? Humanity receives everything in a collective form: at the level of an entire nation, certain groups, or the masses. It is not an individual, specific person; rather, masses of people rise and fall together, and one can see how they are collectively influenced or brought down as a result of something. For us, however, this emerges from the general level of the masses and becomes personal. This refers to impressions, descents and ascents, and the nature of the relationship.

To the extent that these relationships are directed toward the Creator, they move beyond the scope of general governance and come under the domain of private providence, a personal relationship with the Creator. Consequently, both the person’s ascents and descents are directed toward advancing them toward the goal. Based on this, they should feel that everything happening to them is correct, regardless of their current state.
[359928]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Payment Here And Now
Reward And Punishment In Our Lives, Part 1
Unseen Reward

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

In the article “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?” again and again, Rabash emphasizes that as a person advances spirituality, concealment increases.

We know it from the story of the Egypt exile and the exodus. “And the people of Israel sighed from the work,” and then they stood before Pharaoh and went through the ten plagues, the ten blows, until they were rewarded with the exit from Egypt.

All these things tell us that concealment grows and obstacles multiply. We need a lot of patience to perceive these things as the correct result of our efforts. We know from our nature that the more we invest, the more we receive.  Yet here, because we must emerge from the desire to receive, the more effort we exert, the sense of emptiness within that desire must grow so that we may eventually rid ourselves of it.

Hence, according to one’s intellect, one can somehow understand, and maybe even sometimes justify this path, this process of spiritual development in a person that bears no resemblance to what we are used to in this world. To closer a person draws to spirituality, the more they see themselves as further from spirituality.

The more energy they invest, the more they see themselves losing. Consequently they feel drained of strength.  It goes against my nature: how can I exert effort only to receive in the end?  More effort and another blow? Who would ever want to work at all if the only result is a series of blows?

Eventually a person falls into despair and does not know what to do. Based on what they read and according to what they hear, they may somewhat agree with this process with their mind, that it is likely the way to break free from the desire to receive and reach the second nature. But what do we do?

It is stated beautifully and correctly, but is it actually feasible?  What is a person situated with the desire to receive supposed to do?

In truth, there is nothing for a person to do except acknowledge the greatness of the Creator. A person is incapable of doing this on their own, human nature possesses no such strength. A person can only be helped by the group by hearing how great the Creator is, that everything depends on Him, that this is His will, and that He is capable. This refers to the environment—the group, the Rav, and the books—everything surrounding a person. A person’s internal forces are incapable of achieving anything.

“And the children of Israel sighed from the work.” Here one needs to come to a state where truly it is “I and not a messenger.” Meaning, one needs to turn directly to the Creator and cry out and sigh. But it is not in a person’s strength to be able to do it by oneself, unless one is a virtuous one that is helped from above or is fortunate enough to find strength among the friends, in the group, the books, and the Rav.

Only then do they truly turn correctly to the Creator knowing that they have done everything possible and they realize their own powerlessness. They reach a state of despair. It is only through this despair that one fully surrenders oneself to the Creator’s will and allows the Creator to do whatever He pleases. Until a person clarifies exactly what the Creator demands and what He wants, a person cannot cross the Machsom (barrier).

The essence of our choice lies in shortening the path while we are in darkness and exile, a state where the further we advance, the more empty we feel. Rabash writes that during the Egyptian exile, a person might fill the Kli (vessel), but the vessel is riddled with holes and all the contents leak out. A person fills it again and once again the vessel is emptied once more.

A person exerts efforts, yet receives nothing from this labor. When realizes they no longer have any strength to do anything with this vessel, the only option remaining is to turn to the Creator to have it corrected.

How are the holes in a perforated vessel sealed? By means of a screen used for the sake of bestowal. Then the vessel becomes whole and complete. In other words, a “colander” turns into a “ladle.”
[359765]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
Support on the Spiritual Path
Disappointment or a Breakthrough?
In The Labyrinth

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We are at a point that is absolutely opposite to the purpose of creation, and there is no more terrible and distant place from the Creator. We need to clarify what this place is and truly feel where we are actually situated, because as long as we do not realize this, we cannot really feel it. The true sensation of where we are begins from the Machsom and above.

Nevertheless, our work begins with the recognition of the evil of our present state. When a person begins this work, it does not matter whether he received a religious or secular upbringing, whether he is intelligent or not; it does not matter how developed he is intellectually, emotionally, or sensitively.

After some time, the surrounding light begins to work on him, and he begins to feel his state in relation to this light, meaning his desire to receive, which is opposite to the light in every quality.

Then the person begins to experience a feeling of being divided. On one hand, he already somewhat feels the divine, not yet in itself but through the surrounding illumination. On the other hand, he sees how opposite he is to spirituality. And this is despite the fact that his conception of spirituality is very far from what it actually is. And what it actually is is billions of times greater than anything one can imagine!

Nevertheless, he feels something of spirituality, while at the same time he sees himself as opposite even to the most minimal conception of spirituality. And each time, the gap between the sensation of spirituality and him grows.

A person perceives everything solely based on his sensations. We can say that we are sensing beings, while our brain is intended only for the “decoding” of sensations. It was created in order to make the best possible use of sensations and to fulfill the desire to receive.

The desire to receive is the creation, while the brain is an auxiliary system for fulfilling this desire. Therefore, when a person feels bad, the intellect can practically do nothing to help him emerge from this state. Of course, he should tell himself that “my bad feeling is connected to the fact that I am now seeing the true picture, which I did not see before.” But all these wise thoughts do not really have much effect on us, because the feeling rules over us.

We need to accumulate a great deal of experience so as not to react emotionally to descents, not to relate to them based on our feelings, but to accept them in a useful form and work with them, understanding that the more a person advances toward becoming a servant of the Creator, the more evil he sees in himself, and the weaker and worse he feels.
[359918]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

Related Material:
Inner Duality
The Process of Internal Scrutinies
From an Unconscious State to Conscious

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How can you annul before a friend when you are moving toward the goal and your ego is growing?

Answer: I can annul myself before a friend only if I understand that I have no other choice but to be connected with him. If I am in a commando unit where we really depend on each other and I understand that connecting with others is a matter of life and death, then I have no problem annulling before them.

There have been several times when my life depended on other people, and I annulled before them and felt joy in doing so. For example, in a hospital, a man comes to me and says that he will give me anesthesia, cut up my body, do something to it, “fix” it, and then I will be healthy. By doing so, he will save my life. I would kiss his hands and pay him money if only he would.

I want to be this man’s friend, because he brings me back to life. That is, my ego works in the opposite way; it drives me to build a friendly relationship with him. My egoism looks for a way to do something good for this person if only he would save me.

I have had other similar experiences. I learn from them. Or, for example, you see an employee you depend on. Naturally, you want to be his friend. Or my daughter comes to me to ask for money. At this moment, I am her friend. She does not need me afterward.

And that is correct; this is normal egoism. I have to depend on someone. I need an inner awareness, a feeling that “without him, I will not achieve it, I will not make it.” This is hard.

Comment: But if you see this is a mistake…

My Response: The importance of the goal obliges me to annul before a friend. It matters more than my ego or my personal life, and I cannot just stay at home. For me, the most important thing is to reach the goal. Therefore, I annul myself, as in that simple example with the doctor.
[359914]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/26, Rabash, “What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work”

Related Material:
Friends Are an Integral Force
Until the Complete Dilution of “Me”
How to Nullify Yourself before the Friends?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We are at the lowest rung of the chain: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut. We are the last vessels: the coarsest and thickest that exist in the greatest concealment. By the time you manage to budge, the world turns upside down. If previous generations had exerted the same efforts we are making now, I do not know what would have happened.

But this was simply impossible in their Kelim due to the inverse ratio of lights and vessels. What is happening now is a miracle. In those days, everyone felt like Kabbalists: the generation of Moses, the generation of the desert, the generation of the conquest of the Land of Israel, all the way to King David, to the Second Temple. The fall begins with the destruction of the Second Temple.

But still, there were Prophets, everything was alive, Godliness was tangible to people at the level of sensations. There was no need to write any books. With their feelings, they understood what they needed.

Books began to be written only during the exile because a connection existed between those who were still in Divine attainment and those who had already entered into exile, into concealment. Before then, there was no need to write anything.

To whom would you describe what you feel and know when everyone around you feels and knows the same thing? As Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: “Since the destruction of the Second Temple, an iron wall has formed between us and Kabbalah,” that is, between us and the revelation, the sensation of the Creator. Such a wall appeared where we do not feel anything; this is the source of all the problems.

We want to live well. For this, Divinity must be revealed to us! You will feel evil until the Creator is revealed in your Kelim. There are no other conditions! Baal HaSulam also writes in Shamati that the only cause of feeling good is the sensation of the Creator, and that the concealment of the Creator is the cause of all evil. Therefore, the only thing we are doing is looking for a way to reveal the Creator.

We want to live well. But at the same time, either we want a good life for ourselves, or we want to feel good about the purpose of creation. It all depends on the type of Kelim. Good above the screen and good below the screen have two completely different definitions.

Being below the screen, we are not allowed to tune in to what is above it. That is impossible! Therefore, the children of Israel fled Egypt in a hurry, in the dark, taking the vessels of others with them.
[359878]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?”

Related Material:
Relying On The Merits Of Our Predecessors
The Forefathers: Then And Now
The Time Of Grandsons Is Here

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →