Question: Is a transition to a secular worldview necessary when moving from the inanimate stage (Domem) to the vegetative stage (Tzomeach)?

Answer: No, a person does not have to go from being religious at the still level of holiness (Domem de Kedusha) to being secular, to then arrive to Kabbalah. These stages are completely unrelated to one another. There are examples: the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim. In Judaism today, there is a very deep divide.

There are many people who understand that Judaism is in a deep crisis. Unlike what existed a hundred years ago, today all the values, the entire approach, have collapsed. This is clear to many people who, without being organized into groups, study and even get together in small groups to talk about it. I hear from those who call and inquire that this is indeed happening.

There is nothing you can do about it. We are talking about creation, about development, when a person suddenly begins to feel that something is missing in his books, in his way of studying. He may even study Gemara, thinking in spiritual terms, but suddenly, whether he wants it or not, he is “led away.”

He, like us, is brought to a state where he opens a book he did not want to read before—and suddenly, what opens up before him is not a book, but an entire world. I recognize this reaction in people and hope that this is how it will continue. Baal HaSulam and all the Kabbalists of various generations emerged in precisely this way.

Question: But we are talking about individuals. Shouldn’t this become a widespread phenomenon?

Answer: These are not individuals. We are talking about tens and hundreds of people in each generation. Two or three hundred years ago, there were very large groups of people who had attained spiritual levels. Let us remember the Baal Shem Tov and Kotzk. In the time of the Baal Shem Tov, there were thousands of them. There were thousands in every generation. All these Admorim, up until the twentieth century, possessed spiritual attainment, and the books they wrote were, of course, holy books, since they were all Kabbalists.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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We observe a constant tendency within ourselves of attempting to bring Torah into the desire to receive. We want to achieve something, gain something, seemingly something spiritual, and we try to do it one way or another through receiving.

Since our point in the heart is still under the control of the egoistic “stony heart” (Lev Ha Even) we do not understand that spirituality and desire to receive are opposite things. Even when the point in the heart shines and shows to us some positive things about spirituality that are outside of our heart, we still do not sense that in reality this goodness is opposite to our heart and we simply want to get it as we usually do.

We do not know about the restriction (Tzimtzum) and we lack a sense the law of equivalence of form; therefore, we experience heaviness when we work to achieve what we want. We want to achieve spirituality inside the desire to receive. This is where heaviness comes from. If we understood that the basis must be the desire to bestow, it would be much easier for us.

A person constantly feels fatigue, confusion, and powerlessness. Why is this path so difficult and so unpleasant for them?

It is written in one of the articles in Shamati that even when a person understands that their annulment before the Creator is inevitable, and desires it, and even when they feel that the point in the heart is opposite to the heart, they begin to feel that the point in the heart (the desire to bestow) cannot have control over their heart without faith, without the sensation of the Creator.

This stems from the simple condition. Spirituality is defined as a situation in which “Israel” (the spiritual state the person dwells in) and the Creator are in the same point of connection, adhesion, and union. Therefore, if a person aspires to spirituality, even if it is merely a desire to bestow, yet it does not take into account to whom they want to bestow, such a state is still not perfect, it is still not spirituality.

Spirituality is the unity of the three factors: Israel, one’s state, and the Creator. Even when we reach the state where we realize that we have to be annulled, we experience heaviness because the general picture lacks the Creator.

This lack, this heaviness, comes through the reforming light that acts like a herald proclaiming that we have no other choice but to attain a sensation of the Creator, His revelation. Only in this way will we be able to somehow change the current state and emerge from it.

Then if these three points converge in my prayer where “I,” within my state, seemingly want to come to the Creator and ask Him to give me the strength to do that (strength known as the power to exit Egypt), and then He reveals Himself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

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Question: We have been hearing about inspiration and importance for many years. If we put this into practice, rather than just talking about it, must we force our advancement?

Answer: We must engage the group in a game through a kind of forced, feigned “advertising.” Everyone here is obliged to play out the importance of the Creator and to lift their friend’s spirits. Do I really care, do I really want it? Yet I am obligated to do it, by force, artificially, and by pretending, rising above my feelings and understanding, rising above my reason.

From this moment on, everyone starts to play the game: the sensation of the Creator is important to us, knowing the Creator is important to us, the greatness of the Creator is important to us. We must not forget about Him or engage in empty chatter that lead away from the goal; this must become a burning topic for everyone. Apart from this, we have nothing in common. And we must do so forcibly, artificially, and by pretending, knowing full well that it is all a lie and a game.

If He is concealed, yet you have to perform actions stemming from the realization of His greatness, how do you go about it? You have no other way but to imagine His properties instead, to the best of your ability, and advance in that direction.

Comment: Everyone can justify such an approach.

My Response: So start playing! From this moment on, we begin to act.

Question: What if I am a bad actor?

Answer: If we all decide to do this, it means we are taking on the “burden of the kingdom of heaven” (Ol Malchut Shamayim). No one wants to, and yet we accept it. That is all.

There are descents and states of despair; this is understandable, but in general, everyone, as Rabash says, “take the leap.” Everyone is advancing, and a friend’s descent, along with my ascent and everything else, counts as a positive. And then time just races forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 224

What Is Our Addition?

Our addition is “the self.”

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