Question: This comes up all the time that we need to work for the sake of some reward. How is it possible to correct this intention? Which actions must we pass through and how many? How can we really act opposite to this?

Answer: You will gradually change your assessment of the quality of the reward. Essentially you conceive the reward to be—either the state in which you feel yourself to be good, the state when others feel themselves to be good, or  the state where the Creator feels himself to be good due to your deeds.

That is, the reward must be constant. Everything depends on its quality:  What is my reward? If the friends become fulfilled as a result of what I do, this is the reward. Would it be impossible to enjoy this?

I only need to check myself, what is the cause and what is the result? Am I doing good for the friends for my own enjoyment, or do I behave like this because it will be good for them; and because of this I enjoy it? That is, my fulfillment is detachment of the feeling of joy from my Kelim (vessels) and its presence and feeling is in the Kelim of the friends.

Question: Is this a static process or is it possible to run it all the time?

Answer: This is a gradual developmental process of the person within a group. By blindly carrying out everything that the Kabbalists say and write, we can reach this rapidly.

After all, we can never see the next level of our development. Yet the Kabbalists give us advice, how we can make ourselves similar to the next level, become ready for it while being on the level where we are found. How can I be ready for it if I don’t see it and don’t know anything about it? Therefore, they give us advice and recommendations. And without these I would not be able to do anything.

So there is no reason to be alone in the desert to sit there and begin trying to get in touch with the Creator. The method for reaching the upper world was discovered once and we know exactly how this was done: ten generations, ten teachers, ten Kabbalists from Adam to Noah, ten generations from Noah to Abraham, and so on, and so on in a chain.

It cannot be that someone will suddenly discover it in some other form. A person can somehow feel the upper world but not consciously, only temporarily, and then it disappears. I have met people like this. And in order to be found in the spiritual world, clearly, realistically and correctly, and to work with all of our Kelim, which is to say with all the desires and thoughts, we require this method. This already came from Adam so he is considered to be the forefather of all people, all belonging to the level of Adam (Man).
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From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk 6/14/13, Lesson 3

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Question: You say that “it is impossible to thank the Creator when I am crying.” What does this mean?

Answer: I cannot cry from pain and simultaneously thank the one who causes me this pain. The sensation of pain suggests that you cannot thank Him, i.e., you might be doing this but superficially. You understand and are aware of this in your mind but not in the feelings.

You need to work on your feelings so that you can feel pleasure instead of pain while correcting the egoism. If the obstruction comes from the Creator, then it should be turned into happiness, joy, and pleasure. This is what we are engaged in. This is the correction of our Kelim (vessels).

But as long as you feel at least some flaw in your state, it is not called that you thank the Creator. In principle, He does not need to be thanked. When you feel good, this is your unconscious gratitude to Him. And if you also attribute this to Him, then it is complete gratitude. It’s very simple.
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From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk 6/14/13, Lesson 3

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Question: Why does it say that if a lie is small we cannot see our real condition?

Answer: Suppose I am investigating a criminal act and I have to prove that the person sitting before me is a liar and everything depends on the evidence I have against him.

If the evidence isn’t clear and is doubtful and I am not sure that this person is guilty, he can deny everything. The court cannot make a decision when a case is so vague. But if we bring a long list of a person’s offenses along with evidence and testimonies of eye witnesses before it, then there is no doubt that he is guilty, he cannot deny it anymore.

This is the state we should reach when we have irrefutable proof of our ego. We must discover that our attributes are so bad that their crime and outcome are evident not only to us but to the whole world.

We must have irrefutable proof of our lie and it wouldn’t be just cries such as “you are lying!” that I can deny counting on my nature. All my crimes must actually be revealed, as it says: “A judge only has what his eyes can see.”

I must attain such a level of the revelation of the lie that I will really want to leave the lies. It will be very clear to me that the ego is lying to me; this is called a real testimony of a witness, I have to actually see all its crimes on the deepest level Dalet de Dalet (fourth of the fourth).

Then I will have no arguments left, and will not be able to deny it anymore. I will have no power to remain in this state. I will escape from it just as you escape a feeling of great shame.

Imagine that some electrode is connected to your ear and everyone can see your thoughts and your feelings. You would rather die than feel such shame and it is true with regard to each of us. So we have to be impressed by our work this way in order to actually want to die of shame because of my ego. Only then do we reach the truth and agree to change. Remaining in the ego will be worse for us than shame, since our “criminal” thoughts will be revealed to the whole world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/13, Writings of Rabash

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The Creator drives our “donkey” (hamor – חמור), which means that he manages our matter (homer – חומר) (which has the same root in Hebrew), our desire, by the Light that Reforms.

Since the beginning of creation He develops the desire to receive as something from nothing through the four phases of Direct Light (the structure of the first HaVaYaH) and so on. The Light always operates everywhere, as it says, “I am the first,” and at the same time, “the end of the act is in the initial thought,” so the goal of our development is predetermined to make the created being independent.

The Creator has performed the first act, which is in fact the only act called “creation.” He took something out of Himself. This is why it is called Beria, creation in Hebrew, which means bar – outside one’s self. On the other hand, He brought the desire to perfection and this was done immediately.

In the created being’s perception, there is a whole process that he has to discover by himself: who he is, what he is, in relation to whom he exists, and why it happens this way. He has to accept it based on his nature.

The main thing is that as a result of all the feelings and clarifications he goes through, he reaches a state called adhesion; this adhesion is a result of knowing, as it says: “Know thy Lord.” Thus the created being attains the middle point, the Sefira of Keter or the Sefira of knowledge, which is the mind of the upper.

Thus we perform different actions in order to discover where we actually are and in which state. The states that we go through are divided into levels of the worlds: this world, the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and the world of Ein Sof (Infinity). This is what we call the states that were prepared for us in advance during the descent from the top down until the moment that we feel that we exist and begin to ask ourselves: “What do we do now, what can we do? How can we fulfill it? What is expected? How are we managed and how can we manage ourselves.”

There comes a time when I ask myself: “Who am I?” I see a kind of a reality before me and my feeling is divided into two:

• The internality, which is the feeling of the self, my body, my desire, etc.
• Outside myself, which is the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and the speaking, the whole world, and the different feelings of the other worlds that Kabbalists talk about, which are all inside me, in my spiritual vessel, which I have to unite.

So what is that upper force? Who is the “donkey” driver?

We cannot of course speak abstractly about the Creator, about the upper Light. We have to “clothe” Him in some revealed form that we understand, and so in The Book of Zohar in the article “The Donkey Driver,” Rabbi Shimon wants to convey to us the points by which we can perceive the upper force that guides and manages matter. We, however, have to try and feel this as much as we can, both in our heart and mind, as much as we need to.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/13, The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Donkey Driver”

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Rabash, “The Matter of Yenika and Ibur:” … Meaning he does not have to see that he will have happiness from the work, rather what he has to see is that he has to prepare himself to know whom he is working for and what its importance is, and joy is the result of it, meaning to say that if he has no joy in the work, he has no idea of the importance of the Creator, and then he has to correct himself in the matter of faith.

The forces are taken from the recognition of the importance and greatness of the Creator, the goal, the understanding of for whom we work, whom we approach and become similar to. Becoming closer is possible only due to the equivalence of form, but from where can we take forces that enable us to work against our nature? It is only from the environment. That is why the greatness of the upper depends only on the environment, and we need to work on it.

If this is a usual, egoistic desire, then we create religion. Religion is built on the greatness and importance of some object revered among the masses despite the fact that it is not familiar to them, has not been revealed or understood. On the contrary, just because it is not understood and not revealed and this is not even a goal, it is called faith, which is blind and not leading to attainment. That is why the simpler a person is, the higher and more righteous he is considered in faith because he is ready to be loyal without any knowledge.

However, Kabbalah sets another goal for us: “Get to know your Creator and work for Him!” That is, we need to know, to reveal Him. This is precisely the purpose of creation: so that we are happy and enjoy the feeling of closeness to our King to the point of full adhesion. Adhesion means complete attainment of the entire height of the Creation that has reached a similarity to the Creator. They become equal to each other.

So here we need a completely different work. Attaining the greatness of the upper one occurs in two stages. In the first stage, we talk about the greatness of the goal, the Creator, whom we want to reveal, about the upper force besides which there is nothing else, and impress each other. We become inspired by getting closer to the revelation of this highest quality that exists between us, hidden for the time being, but will be revealed soon.

This is not mere inspiration like in religious ecstasy, but it attracts the Surrounding Light to us. This is a huge difference. We are impressed with the greatness of the Creator and come closer to Him according to our desire to become similar to Him, that is, to get rid of the power of the evil inclination in us and go under the power of the good nature of bestowal. As it is written, “Would that they had forsaken Me but kept my Torah, since by occupying themselves therewith, the light which it contains would have led them back to the right path.”

We do not want to just reveal the Creator, the force of bestowal and love in us, but we really desire to be changed due to His Light and force. That is why we artificially create in ourselves the opinion of His greatness, which in essence is a sham because we do not feel so. However, we know that we are immersed in our egoism, the desire to enjoy, and that is why we have no other way to grow but to work against the current state. We do all this quite deliberately and under our control.

That is why in the usual understanding, faith means to close the eyes and not seek to know and attain anything. A person gets strength from his egoism, from the egoistic environment that allows him to act with the hope of great reward. The environment promises him the Garden of Eden, and all sorts of rewards in this life and future lives.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches the opposite because, as it is written, “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the egoistic masses.” We do not seek commonplace values, but want the force of bestowal and love for the other to rule in us. That is why faith for us is called the force of bestowal. “Believing in the Creator” means to bestow upon Him as the grateful guest upon the host. Thus, we become equal to Him.

Also, every time when we rise, we again need the environment to support the opinion that the Creator is great. However, it is not clear to us at all. This is necessary only in order to draw the Surrounding Light to ourselves that will give us the property of bestowal and allow us to rise above our egoism, to feel the other. The property of bestowal, the property of Bina, is called faith.

You can check your joy from this point of view: Is it the result of good deeds as it should be, that is, the action of bestowal, faith above reason? This means that bestowal should be above reception, above our egoistic desire, or do we feel joy because we enjoy our egoism? Then, it is egoistic joy, the joy of ruling egoism. Everything depends on what reigns within us. This is what should be checked.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/13

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If you suffer it means that you are in a state called: “a fool sitting idly eating his own flesh.” If you have a strong environment that wants to help you and you are not ashamed to nullify yourself and to be totally incorporated in it, you are very lucky. Then you don’t suffer, but will immediately discover the means to turn this whole state of suffering for the best.

If you are eating your own flesh, it means that you cannot determine for sure where the pain comes from, for what reason, from whom, and for what purpose. You have forgotten that “He is the first and He is the last!” and it is as if you attribute the pain to yourself, as if you have caused it by yourself and you are responsible for it. Thus you torture yourself and eat yourself.

If, however, you attribute everything to the Creator and not to the caprice of blind fate, you will stop eating yourself and will immediately turn the bad feeling into a means of ascent, of connection with the Creator who has sent you this state so that you will connect to Him.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/06/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If I share my joy and impressions with a friend, how do I know that it does not harm him?

Answer: There are two prohibitions in relations with friends.

The first prohibition is to tell no one about your relationships with the Creator. The only person with whom you can talk about this is your wife if she is constantly with you on the path. With the friends you can talk about anything related to your relationship with the group, studies, and anything else, except your relationship with the Creator.

The second prohibition is in no way, not by word, not by gesture, not by facial expressions,to express any disdain for spiritual work. Do not decrease friends’ desires, but all the time try to awaken and develop their desire towards the goal. Do not provoke any momentary, insignificant descent in them. Be careful not to trigger it even by some gesture: watch constantly for this. In the end you will have to feel yourself in ascent all the time. Otherwise, they will take this degradation from you.
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From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk 6/14/13, Lesson 3

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Question: It says that the “Creator is good and benevolent.” So what do the words “in pain you will bring forth children” mean? What is the meaning of this pain and sorrow?

Answer: Childbirth involves sorrow and pain, and while reading the Torah we are under the impression that the Creator is cruel especially towards women. He says to the woman: “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.” As if these are two opposing forces but are both aimed at the same cause.

Malchut, our desire, yearns for the source of the filling, for Zeir Anpin, for the male part. What is more, it exists in each of us, both in man and in woman. We yearn for the source of the filling and this egoistic filling rules over us and we cannot do anything about it. This is the attitude of the female part towards the male part.

“In pain you will bring forth children,” means that the birth of every new level, of every new feeling, of every attainment, is through the path of sufferings.

Each time a greater ego is revealed in us, so when we go through many states for a long time we begin to see that it is evil and that we must exit it like from Egypt, to pop out like a pit out of a cherry, under the same pressure that a baby successfully comes out of his mother’s womb during childbirth.

But every birth involves pain, since birth is every new level in which two opposing forces are involved, one of them is the inhibiting force of the embryo, since the ego holds on to him and doesn’t let him come out, at the same time the altruistic pushing force, that pushes the fruit out and doesn’t want to keep it inside is also revealed.

The struggle between these two opposing forces creates a transition process called “pain,” “in pain you will bring forth children.” On the whole, all the corporeal phenomena stem from spirituality. Thus we are born on every level.

So we have to approach the spiritual states by understanding that the group is our “womb,” and in it we have to create the two opposing forces. One of them is the egoistic force that sustains us and the other is the altruistic force of rejection that raises us all. By leaving the force that sustains us on the outside we are born only by the force that pushes us and that leads us onwards.

This spiritual process is typical of men, who go through it in every spiritual birth, on every spiritual level, exactly like women.
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From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk Day One 6/14/13, Lesson 3

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Question: Why were we given such conditions of being thousands of kilometers apart from one another?

Answer: Because you are strong, you are heroes, you are the concealed righteous.

Actually you don’t have to stay in the same place if you can unite with others and there is no way to organize a group where you live. You don’t have to remain in the place where you live at all costs.

I also moved to live near my teacher. Of course in Israeli standards it wasn’t far but qualitatively it was very meaningful since I had to give up my business, my home, everything, since I couldn’t go on differently.

But it happened two years after I had started studying with him. I wanted to move near him immediately but he didn’t let me do so for two years.

Question: How can we choose the group and the conditions correctly?

Answer: You have to move to a place where there is a good group with good reliable guys so you will really be able to dedicate yourself seriously to the spiritual work.

Besides, there should be reasonable conditions for the family there and a place of work. You have to check all this.

I believe that there is no need to take any chances. But if there is no hope of organizing a group in the place where you live, you should move.
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From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk 6/14/13, Lesson 3

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