We are still unable to appreciate what Rabash had done for us. He was the first Kabbalist in history to have described man’s spiritual work in a specific and structured way. As a guide to one’s inner work in attaining the Creator, the works of Rabash have no equal.

There are various books that speak about this at various lengths, but none of them describe the entire path of one’s inner transformation in a systematic way. Rabash, however, gives concise and comprehensible explanations with clear examples. He supplements the method of Baal HaSulam with all that is missing for the practical realization of correction so that all humanity could accomplish it. We take the works of Baal HaSulam and the articles of Rabash and adapt them to the modern man by stripping away all that could confuse him.

These great Kabbalists created the two parts of the method of correction. Everyone needs them today in order to reach the purpose of creation. Baal HaSulam connects us to the source of the Surrounding Light, and Rabash teaches us how to prepare ourselves to connect to this source. He explains how I should organize myself step by step, and how to focus my thoughts and intentions. When I am ready, I then open the books of Baal HaSulam.

Baal HaSulam is like the Light that comes to me from Above, and Rabash prepares me through the work below upward, toward the source. If I make use of both these forces, I am guaranteed success.

From the Talk on Working on Rabash’s Articles 6/15/10

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We need to work with Rabash’s articles, dividing them into sections and examining them. Every article is built according to a specific scenario, like a movie or a novel. It has a setting, a conflict (a problem), the development, the investigation of certain conflicts and discrepancies, and a resolution at the end. Along the way we usually encounter several difficulties, which help clarify the initial question and formulate conclusions. The entire course of the article corresponds to one’s inner (psychological and spiritual) structure so he could understand and internalize it.

You should read an article (or two short articles) a day, in the morning and in the evening. It does not matter if you become confused as long as you remain in this material all the time. The effort alone will attract the Light that Reforms. That same Light will clarify all the questions, including the proper order and system, as well as the stages that one needs to go through. All of this will become clear, and if it remains unclear, then you’ll understand why it is so. But it is the Light that illuminates everything we want to find out.

I do not conduct theoretical research; rather, I wait for the Light to illuminate for me the author’s mind in one thought. What does he want to say here, what is his plan? Just one single thought! What was Rabash thinking at that moment? The entire article is one single thought, and I want to understand it. This can only be done with the help from Above, once I am visited by a “muse.” Kabbalists call her “Light.”

From the Talk on Working on Rabash’s Articles 6/15/10

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During our entire spiritual journey, we must continually progress through applying faith above reason. We wish to attain spiritual perception, to enter the area of the Creator, and to draw His forces, which is precisely how we practice using faith above reason. This is when we are not walking blindfolded, but are guided by the force of bestowal.

It is not by using my own mind and perception, but rather, being guided by a higher spiritual step. I am walking along with it in a manner whereby I accept the mind and perception of the Upper One, exalting them above and despite my own. Thereby, I acquire new, more logical, and higher, qualities. But to me, they don’t necessarily seem logical.

This is what is happening with us right now. We constantly face the very same problem. I must treat my friends and the world according to the principle: “Love others as you love yourself.” I have to love and unite with them and do something with myself, don’t I? How can I accomplish that? I don’t like it, and I am incapable of it.

This is where I have to accept this condition, the law of “faith above reason,” and decide that I am going to do it. I have an opportunity to meet this condition through action, even if I resent it. It is written about this: “We shall do, and we shall hear!” This is why, according to the Torah, Moses’ staff bloomed. All this occurs through the blessing from Above when we accept the mind of the Upper One, which means to follow the Creator.

In fact, the Creator is a higher spiritual step and not something nebulous. A child learns from a grown-up in the same manner: He opens his mouth and literally catches every word, gesture, and behavior of the adult. No matter what an adult shows, he will copy everything. This is how he grows.

We have to do the same with the help of a tremendous force against our nature; we obligate ourselves to learn from the higher spiritual step. We call this faith above reason. That very force that I acquire from the Upper One gives me perceptions, mind, and a great deal of knowledge and information. Due to the fact that I have to go against my present state, it is called faith above reason. Yet it is clearly not so because at a higher spiritual level there is a greater desire to receive pleasure; hence, it is also greater in the intention to bestow. Obviously, the higher spiritual step is opposite to me and never looks logical.

The Upper One always seems strange, confusing, and incorrect to the lower because the Upper One is contrary and obscure to me; therefore, I am certain that the Upper One is wrong. And only from experience, can we see that the Upper One doesn’t err. Even if His behavior looks odd and illogical, you simply don’t understand His calculations. And yet, He never errs on the path.

From the Weekly Torah Portion 6/11/10

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Dear Friends, I will begin posting selected quotes of great Kabbalists on various subjects. Please ask questions about these passages. I promise to answer them.

The Creator Is the Absolute Good

And because we realize that the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.”
– Baal HaSulam, Article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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