Question: What kind of honors can one use to pull oneself toward the goal?

Answer: We are talking about honors directed not at us but at the greatness of the Creator in order to raise the importance of the goal, the greatness of the Creator above one’s own ambition and vanity, which constantly strive to fulfill one’s innate desire to receive. They can be satisfied by a group honoring me, and I can also satisfy my own vanity.

If, instead of filling myself with various forms of honors in this world or the next, instead of fears for myself or my children or worries for the present or the future, I have a fear whether I have filled the Creator with the intention to bestow and I begin to pay homage to the greatness of the Creator, to the glory of heaven, then the greatness of the Creator will become more important than my self-love.

It is not that the Creator needs such adoration from me, but it gives me the opportunity to step out of my Kelim (vessels) and start thinking about giving. When I think about bestowal, the whole spiritual world passes through me, and I become one with it.

On the part of the Creator, His intention to please His creatures can only be realized in such a way that if I want to fill myself, I must first fill Him. If I fill myself first, then both pleasure and desires immediately disappear, as a result of which I find myself empty again.

In order to give the creation the opportunity to be infinitely and eternally filled, that is, to give us a sense of the eternity of our existence, the Creator has prepared His Kli, His need, for us as if He needs our attention and enjoys what we give Him.

Thus, working in the mode of bestowal, I begin to enjoy giving pleasure to the Creator, and the more I give to Him, the more I enjoy. This process can be continuous and last forever; this is called eternal life.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/26, Rabash, “What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?”

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What is an extra effort? It is applying an effort that is sufficient for you to be given a greater Kli and then it becomes possible to receive fulfillment. But how can I know that? That is why it is called work above reason.

I have no ability to work with any kind of control over this. Moreover, what does it mean that I can evaluate my work? After all, I am supposed to work without any reward, without any criticism, without anything.

If I want to rise to a higher degree, then I must now exert efforts without asking for any payment for it, simply give everything to everyone. Why? Because I want to ascend to a higher spiritual degree. So, ascend, do it. But it is impossible.

The surrounding light corrects me to some extent now. It holds me by giving me a certain illumination at a particular spiritual level of life. Now I want to awaken it so that it will send me an even greater force. But first of all, why would I even want this? After all, on a higher degree, I must renounce many things, want less for myself, and give more. How can I do this?

This means that I must once again take some of my egoistic desires and correct them. With what force can I do this? The surrounding light does not yet shine upon me and does not give me these forces. I must first make an effort.

And of course, my efforts are in Lo Lishma. That is, I awaken upon myself an unnatural action that is not embedded in my nature, and I awaken it indirectly. I cannot do it directly. If I could slightly open the tap of the surrounding light so that more of it would come to me, if that were in my power, I would already have acquired bestowing Kelim. But I am not capable of doing that.

So how can I still influence the turning of this tap so that it opens and corrects me more? For this, there are indirect actions that I perform without understanding. I do not even understand what I am doing. I can never cut myself off from my desires.

How can I do this if I am within this nature? Therefore, the work takes place when one “walks through the desert.” There is the concept of “banners” (under which banner one stands), and the Torah portion itself is called Bamidbar (In the Desert). We work in Lo Lishma, and through this, we come to Lishma.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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Question: On the spiritual path, a person discovers, time and again that when they ask for something specific, they receive something completely different.

Answer: Even if I am engaged in spiritual work, say, on degree “X,” then for me, “X + 1” equals infinity. I am not capable of doing, thinking, or feeling anything that belongs to that degree. I have no screen; my desire at the degree X + 1 is a Klipa. How can I take those desires and want the opposite within them? It seems unnatural to me; it does not correspond to my nature.

Suppose that now you live, you have a room and some clothes. To renounce all of this now means that you would relinquish everything, give up your room, your clothes, and be content with just one pair of trousers and one shirt. There are people who live this way. You wouldn’t even need the room anymore. You would be capable of giving it all up.

Now, let’s say you have made this correction, and instead of one room you are given a good apartment, full of all kinds of comforts and nice things. Your car is parked outside of the building. But you are told, “All you need is a shirt and pair of trousers. Why do you need all this? Why do you  need such a large apartment? There is plenty of space in the yard. Give it up.”

In other words, time and again, you find yourself in a state where you have no strength to carry out corrections, and no possibility to ask for these corrections to come to you.

Question: But couldn’t you say: “I gave up the apartment, and now I received a palace in return”?

Answer: No. The fact that you gave up the apartment is true. Subsequently, you do receive a palace. But since you receive it in the left line (uncorrected desires), you feel that this palace is bad for you. If you were simply to enjoy the palace, you would descend into the Klipot, you would forget about Kabbalah and forget about the purpose of creation.

Within the surrounding light you reveal what this palace really is. It does not come to you as even greater pleasure. Otherwise, everyone would give up something small in order to receive something greater.

Spiritual work is never a direct path to correction. We have absolutely no direct approach to it. In our work, everything happens indirectly.

I am given the possibility to evoke this, to be its cause. But the work itself is done from above. That is why it is such a complex matter. I do not feel that I am working because I am not working on the correction directly. I do not feel that the Creator relates to me in a straightforward way but always through such unpleasant, difficult revelations. Sometimes there are pleasant ones, but only to give me strength.

A person who works correctly and truly advances feels revelation and some small illumination only for a very short time. These illuminations that show them something are revealed for very brief moments, say, five minutes a day. All the rest of the time they work through effort. And this brings benefit until the effort itself turns into light.

If the effort is truly for the sake of bestowal, then there is light, there is pleasure from the effort itself. In such a case, this effort becomes clothed in the light of Hochma.

Just consider how opposite we are to bestowal, in our Kelim, in our preparation, in our sensations, and in our thoughts. See how, through the Klipot, we are pulled toward correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

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A person striving for spirituality sees to what extent they are opposite to the Creator, and that they have no possibility to change themselves on their own to acquire the opposite form. Only help from above can bring about this transformation.

And then, from these painful reflections, he turns to the Creator. Afterward, one understands that this opposite form and the true form that he must receive if the Creator helps him, were revealed in him intentionally so that he could feel them in himself. This is not simply so that he would feel bad in one and good in the other and would feel these states as good and evil, but so that as a result of this clarification, he would want to adhere to the Creator Himself.

Both of these forms, which seem so opposite to a person and are perceived in this way by his senses, are in fact only a means to merge with the Creator.

The truth lies above these two forms. In contrast to the status of the Creator, who exists above these qualities, if a person casts aside his attitude toward his own state either because of frivolity or due to the heaviness of thoughts, then he as if disappears from spirituality altogether.

There is no intermediate state between frivolity and seriousness. This is the state of an ordinary person from the street who in no way correlates his qualities with the qualities of the Creator. In spirituality, this concept does not exist.

From here, the conclusion is that our most important work is to come to a prayer, which is called work in the heart. But it is carried out precisely with seriousness, because seriousness is not that I see my qualities as the opposite of the Creator and wish to correct them, but a level above that. Because I see it this way, understand it, and strive to correct my qualities, I submit to the Creator and accept His advice to go and correct them by faith above reason.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?

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Pharaoh (Paro) stands opposed to the Creator, he resists Him. Moses, the point in the heart within us, stands between them. The dispute between Pharaoh and the Creator is conducted through the point in the heart. All our other desires should simply obey it. In the same way, a person must obey the group.

Therefore it is said that on the day of the exodus from Egypt, “You became My people.” And before that, there was no such thing as the people of Israel.

This outcome, the acquisition of a screen, occurs inside a person when he receives correction due to the influence of the upper light on him. During the exodus from Egypt, the light GAR deHochma comes.

Only with such a strong light can the Kelim be prepared to exit from the desire to receive, which is called the passage of the Final Sea (Red Sea).

This can only be done through unity. Many friends come together, unite, become a “people,” that is, one single vessel, a Kli, and then the light comes from above that can lead us out of Egypt.

Therefore, love between friends, unity, and the capacity to yield to each other are absolutely necessary. The indispensable condition is that the desire of each individual must merge with the desires of all the others to create a common desire that corresponds to the state of Passover (Pesach).

We belittle and subdue our material egoistic desires; we cast aside all our petty calculations with each other, single out, and we isolate and connect only our desire for spirituality. We unite all our points in the hearts so that they form one common Kli, which will be sufficient to truly pull us out of the bondage of selfishness and to merit the light of correction coming from above.

When leaving Egypt, all the work that a person has done over the many years of the preparation period comes together, and its results are summed up. Therefore, we must unite and achieve the necessary measure. And if we can do this, then the lights of Passover, both materially and spiritually, will influence us so that we will actually be worthy to approach spirituality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/26, Rabash, “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

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Question: What does it mean to respect the evil inclination?

Answer: It means that we should respect the work of the evil inclination, to observe with what punctuality and meticulousness this “angel” works on us in pursuing the objective of awakening, time and again, in the correct direction. The method of its work is opposite to what we are supposed to do, yet at the same time it works on us constantly and continuously. This is truly remarkable. One can learn from it.

We must be vigilant about how these things manifest and understand that they come not from my own nature, but from an external force within me that constantly awakens me in a direction opposite to the Creator. And if I continually act in opposition to it and turn toward the Creator, I am , in that very act, reaching out specifically to Him.

It is the evil inclination that leads to this, according to its quantity, quality, and character, and according to the sequence of actions, thoughts, and desires it evokes. Cell by cell, it builds my spiritual Partzuf.

Question: Are there breaks in its work?

Answer: There are no intervals or pauses in the evil inclination. It is our spiritual gene and it is undergoing development. Since the shattering of the vessels occurred, it pulls us in various directions opposite to the Creator. Our task is simply to correct our intention regarding this gene. Once we do, it will develop properly.

Essentially, it has been developing all along as a simple Reshimo, and now it begins to expand more and more, like dough. We only need to give it a form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/26, Rabash, “It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing from a Bad Person”

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There are three ways of advancing in one’s spiritual work, if all of them can be called advancement.

The first way is to advance within knowledge, according to what I understand with my intellect when I investigate ad subject and make calculations. This is the approach taken by the entire world.

There is also a form of advancement within knowledge that might provisionally be termed spiritual work. This is not the kind of advancement undertaken by the world at large, which remains disconnected from the Creator, but rather the movement of those who appear to be connected with the Creator and who relate to Him in accordance with their own understanding and perception. This is called “walking within reason.” There are people like this among us.

There are also people who relate to the Creator below knowledge, below reason, below the level of the intellect. this implies that they understand that if they follow their own intellect, they will not achieve success. How can a person who relies on their own intellect advance spiritually?

Consequently such a person thinks that if they suppress their intellect, effectively cut it off, they will be able to connect with the mind of the Creator and will be connected with Him. If my mind sends me all kinds of disturbances, I turn it off, and no matter what happens, I do not pay attention to it. I remain connected to the Creator and do not look at those disturbances that come from my reason.

Why is this bad? If I think that I want to be connected to the Creator no matter what happens,  I am effectively doing nothing more than erasing all the obstacles, one by one. In this case, I will not need the help of the Creator. In essence, I will have no need for the Creator Himself. I simply become a fanatic, and it does not matter what abstract idea I champion, not even matter if that idea has any actual connection to the Creator.

The correct advancement, the one that can truly enable a person to reach their goal, union with the Creator, is possible only if one follows a path fraught with disturbances, including those that arise in one’s own mind. By rising above them, one establishes a connection with the Creator, known as faith above reason.

Therefore, of all the possibilities—below reason, within reason, and above reason—only advancement above reason leads to adhesion with the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/26, Rabash, “Moses Went”

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When I am in an ascent, I want to be a faithful servant of the Creator; in other words, I attach all of Malchut to Bina. This is the difference between Tzimtzum (restriction), Masach (screen), and Ohr Hozer (reflected light).

Tzimtzum occurs only on Malchut and stems from egoistic shame in order to avoid the terrible feeling of separation from the Creator.

A Masach is the aspiration to work above one’s desire to receive pleasure; it is an ascent above egoism.

Reflected light means that I take the desire of the Creator and work for Him.

All these actions take place at different levels of the desire to receive. A new Kli is revealed within me in which I receive from the host. I discover how much He enjoys giving to me, and I allow Him to do so. I continue to receive from the Creator, but now consciously and only in order to give Him pleasure, as if an infant understood how pleasing it is for the mother to feed him and opened his mouth only for that reason.

Only through mutual guarantee can we constructively use descents and turn them into ascents. During a true descent, a person is incapable of doing anything themselves; only the friends can help them.

When one falls, it gives the others an opportunity to acquire additional desires and not to fall. If we acted this way, we would always be in ascent. The group would continuously rise if it correctly used each descent by extracting an additional drive forward from it.

The goal of the Creator is not to cast us into despair, but to bring us to true unity. Yet He deliberately arranges things so that along the way we despair and ask Him for help. After all the efforts we invest, we despair in our work and cry out to the Creator, and then He saves us.

But until this happens, we must constantly strive only for unity in order to ultimately discover that we are incapable of it without the help of the upper force. This entire process is called the Egyptian exile.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/18, Rabash, “What Is the Blessing, ‘Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,’ in the Work?”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Letter 59

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2nd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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