Audio Version Of The Blog – 7/2/26
Posted on July 2nd, 2026
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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 157
If the Final Disappointment Comes Only at the End of the Path, Why Should We Constantly Remind Ourselves About “There Is None Else Besides Him”?
If a person finally despairs and then turns to the Creator only at the end of the path, why do we constantly say, “There is none else besides Him”? Why must we turn to Him all the time? It seems one could sit, wait, forget about Him, and work within oneself as if He does not exist, until one eventually becomes disappointed with everything, and subsequently some “point” in the mind and heart will awaken and remind us to turn to Him.
The matter is that if we are not unceasingly relating to “There is none else besides Him,” then all the effort we seemingly make on our own is directed at another goal. We miss the target and do not advance in the right direction.
What is disappointment in our own strength? It is disappointment meant to establish that “There is none else besides Him.” That is the true point of disappointment.
What does it mean to reach the final correction? We are in a certain state right now. What does it mean to reach the final correction in this state? It means to reach it with everything we currently have. We do not know what else we will have later or whether there will even be anything more than what we have now. Perhaps what we have attained up until now is already the final correction and there are no further degrees? How can we know where we stand on the ladder? We do not know anything.
If we can now completely and absolutely connect our qualities within ourselves, the state we are in, and our environment (both our inner and surrounding conditions), together with the Creator, and if we can bind all these factors into one unified whole without any difference between them, this constitutes our final correction.
What will take place on the next degree and whether it even exists, who knows? Perhaps everything is about to become revealed in the next moment? We should not think about what will be. We need to act now.
If at this point we become disappointed in our own strength and turn to the Creator, that is the best possible action. Why?
It is because if we truly attempt to connect these three variables together, we arrive at the awareness that we cannot. This is a sign that we truly directed ourselves at uniting these three factors. It is like a person who aims a rifle, where they align their eye, the barrel, and the target into one straight line. If we cry out to the Creator that we are incapable, this is a sign that we have indeed found Him. If we are not precisely directing our appeal to the Creator, we still believe that we can succeed by our own strength.
If we truly turn to the Creator and the Creator performs this unification for us at our degree, it is as though we are in the final correction. We acquire an inner light, a spiritual standing, perhaps a part of the final correction. But how would we know it is only a part? We would not. We do not know everything, and accordingly, we do not know the value of that part within the overall picture. Kabbalists say there are another 620 such states until a person reaches the final correction.
A person becomes disappointed with trying to unite Israel, the Torah, and the Creator as one. Only from this work do we despair. This is the work, and it is what “There is none else besides Him” means. We despair of our inability to accomplish this unification. There is nothing else to do but this.
Moreover, if we despair at being unable to make this unification and turn to the Creator, it is a sign that we are indeed close to unity, perhaps already within it, because we turn to the Creator from the very state we have reached and want to connect the two: “There is none else besides Him.” What else is there besides this? It is that tightly connected.
This is the sign that we have truly turned to the Creator and not to something we imagined to be the Creator. It is the test that we have directed our path and our vision precisely at Him.
Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 156
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 155
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 154
Question: If the cause of our states is constant, what changes? Is it the states themselves?
Answer: Yes, states change, the form they are clothed in changes, but the cause remains the same. The cause is the lack of the revelation of the divine in you, in your matter, in your desire.
Let us put it this way: a person is a “black box” divided into thousands of cells. In each cell, the degree of revelation of the Creator is different.
For example, the Creator wants you to reveal Him in a certain place right now. So the Creator arranges a specific state for you in which you reveal Him. Through this, you bring about the correction of that state and receive the next one. This continues until you reveal the Creator in every single cell, until you have corrected all states.
From all the states sent to you, you somehow reveal the divine presence. At the same time, these states intensify your desire for spirituality and provide a deeper understanding of reality and experience. You transition from double to single concealment.
[358276]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”
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Question: How does the transition from double concealment to single concealment happen?
Answer: The transition from double to single concealment takes place here, within this world, slowly and gradually. A person fluctuates between one state and the other, and thereby gradually moves to a state of simple concealment.
What is single concealment? It is when, against the backdrop of any event that happens to me, I feel it is sent from above, that the Creator is behind all this. Gradually, this feeling begins to accompany a person constantly, and one lives with it even before the Machsom (spiritual barrier). This happens much earlier, accumulates and manifests in our sensations.
[357940]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”
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Question: What role does the group play when we go through different states?
Answer: We need the group for several reasons. Actually, there is only one reason, but since the Creator is still hidden from us, this reason is divided into several sub-reasons in relation to me. At first, I feel the group reminds me of the importance of spiritual work. Its influence helps me get back on track with my work. Without a group, I lose the correct direction.
All this is just at the beginning of the path. As I progress, I begin to see the group as a part of my soul. The spiritual construction is designed in such a way that there is a part of my soul in each person, and ultimately, I must unite with each of them. I do not know how yet, but I will have to do it somehow.
We are taught that all this is arranged as a pyramid. I have to unite with everyone, but not in the same measure. I connect with some souls on the inanimate level (Domem), with others on the vegetative level (Tzmeach), and with others on the living level (Chai). In other words, I unite with all the parts of Adam HaRishon‘s common soul, but with each on a different level of unity.
Ultimately, I need friends around me who I can work with as one Kli (vessel). They and I will function as organs of one body, one Kli. That is how we must work. Indeed, we see the most advanced and effective designs in our world are based on this method.
A person alone simply cannot advance. All he can do is somehow come to realize, over millennia, that he cannot break into spirituality alone. Anyone who flees from society is completely hopeless.
[358262]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”
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Question: What exactly is revealed to us above reason?
Answer: I do not know what will be revealed to me above reason. For now, I simply continue on the path.
I am told that after I become completely exhausted and despair of my own strength and after thinking, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”, then I will merit the right to turn to Him with a cry for help. I will have nothing else left to do.
The Creator no longer leaves me any hope that I can still try something on my own and thereby attain the desired goal. Only one thing remains in me: a great desire to attain it with absolutely no means to do so, and then I cry out.
I cry out because I see no possibility of moving forward. No opportunities are left to me; no chances are being given.
This is not an ordinary cry born of despair in life. In Kabbalistic terms, it is the moment when a person realizes that no effort within the egoistic will to receive can bring him to the goal. All personal calculations, strengths, knowledge, and strategies have been exhausted.
Only then can a genuine prayer emerge, not a request for fulfillment, but a request for help from a force that lies above one’s own nature.
The paradox is that this state is not considered a descent, but rather a preparation for ascent. As long as a person still believes that he can achieve spirituality through his own powers, he has not yet reached a true need for the Creator. When every other support falls away, the deficiency becomes complete, and from that complete deficiency the real cry is born.
[357878]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”
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Question: All our thoughts and intentions come from the body. What is the best way to take care of the physical body? I know from my own experience that if I have gotten enough sleep, I am ready to engage in things connected with spiritual work.
Answer: Of course, the healthier a person’s body is, the better prepared they are for inner work. This is well known. We are obliged to give the body what it needs. The ancient Romans said: “A healthy mind in a healthy body.” By “mind” they meant the animal soul, but nevertheless, the principle remains. Therefore it is necessary to sleep, eat, wash the body, and take care of it.
When I lived in Rehovot, there was a young man that lived nearby who was raising a very expensive horse. The way he was caring for and cherishing it was unbelievable! It was his whole life. This image remained vividly in my memory. That is how one should care for the body. Of course, our entire life should not be focused on it, but we must give it what it requires.
This is how we should act. Let the body work for us, for the human being within us! For that purpose, I am ready to take care of it.
Rabash took great care of his body. I bought him all the necessary groceries—vegetables, fruit, and chocolate. He regularly took blood tests, and paid close attention to maintaining his health.
We used to go to the sea together. Until he swam 600 strokes, he would not come out of the water. And if we did not go to the sea, then there was walking, an hour and a half at a time. I had to sing something fast-paced, and we would walk to that rhythm for an hour and a half. In the middle of the walk we would stop for ten minutes, during which I was allowed to ask a question, and then we continued. At that time he was already 80 years old.
We also attended swimming or gymnastics sessions with a membership pass. My wife remembers that we used to spend three to four hours a day doing sports and physical exercises. Some people can sit all day long, but Rabash could not; his body required physical activity. I bought him a bicycle, and every evening he exercised on it doing 400 revolutions. That was not easy at all!
Once I was going through a terrible spiritual descent. At that time a yoga instructor used to come to us, and he taught us, not philosophy, but exercises that helped develop the body’s flexibility. I was in such a state then that I said, “I am not capable of doing this.”
“All right, then do not,” Rabash replied. “I will continue alone.”
He continued practicing with the yoga teacher at home, and in a few days I returned.
Rabash did everything according to a schedule. He assigned time to eat, time to drink, and so on. He never drank while eating, and never ate while drinking. His attitude toward the body was always very precise and disciplined. There were also things that I found very hard to endure.
For example, he did not allow the air conditioner to be turned on.
“This is natural heat; there is nothing to be done about it,” he would say. And we endured it.
“If you want, turn on a fan. It is like the wind; that is acceptable.”
My blood pressure would rise terribly. I felt as if I were about to explode. The temperature all around us was 40°C (104°F). Rabash tried to behave in relation to nature in the simplest possible way.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work? ”
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 21 “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?” (1988) (5.29.2002)
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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (4.19.2001)
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