The Creator is that which relates to all souls with love. We know nothing else about Him: “Good and doing good to all souls.”

You will not be able to find the Creator (this quality) unless you focus your attention on Him through all the souls as if they were a radar. It will not work otherwise.

Therefore, when we speak of “a person and the Creator,” this necessarily means through the common Kli (vessel). Outside the common Kli, the Creator does not exist. You cannot sense or evaluate Him individually, for yourself alone.

The first sensation that appears before the Machsom, as you pass through it, when you exist in both realms and ask where the Creator is, reveals Him as the one who fills everything, governs all humanity, and dwells within it. By comparing yourself with His attitude toward people, you find yourself there as well. In other words, the meeting place between you and the Creator is within the souls of people. There is no other place.

This is what crossing the Machsom means: you begin to see the souls of people and the Creator there, because you receive forces and qualities from above that enable you to relate to them as He does, although at first only to a minimal degree. Initially it is Ibur (conception), Yenika (nursing), and Mochin (adulthood). That is the only way.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot 9/25/26

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Three books open on Rosh Hashanah [Hebrew New Year’s Eve]: that of complete righteous, that of complete wicked, and that of intermediate. The complete righteous are immediately written to life. The complete wicked are immediately written to death (Zohar for All, Vol. 6, The Four Species and Hoshana Rabbah [Great Supplication, 7th day of Sukkot]).

One who has attained the level where they justify the Creator despite the entire desire to receive is called completely righteous. This means that they already possess the “covering” of Binah over all their receiving Kelim.

One who does not have the correction of Hassadim over the desire to receive is called completely wicked. They simply have not received the correction and are therefore called wicked.

“Wicked” is a degree. To be wicked, one must also be in the upper world. “Righteous,” “wicked,” and “intermediate” are states. When a person crosses the Machsom (barrier) and begins working for the Creator, these three possibilities arise.

We are not talking about people like us, not even when it comes to the “wicked.” We are not wicked. We are simply a zero because we exist below what is called the line of life. No qualities are attributed to us at all: neither “wicked” nor anything else. The Book of Zohar does not say a single word about what is below the Machsom.

The intermediate remain awaiting judgment until Yom Kippur. If they repent, they are sealed to life; and the wicked, who do not repent, are sealed to death.

Why? Because these represent either the completely right line or the completely left line. They are extreme, opposite states that come from the Creator in which either the Kelim or the lights are completely dependent on the upper.

What depends on the person? It is how to unite these two qualities within oneself, the left and the right lines, within oneself. It is finding the optimal combination to unite them, taking the Kelim from the left and the qualities from the right, and forging the middle line from them.

A person can reach a state where some of his Kelim that are undergoing correction, become “righteous,” while others become “wicked.” Some Kelim will be destined for life and filled with lights, while others will go to “death,” becoming increasingly empty until the very end, descend into darkness, and form the Sof (end) of the Partzuf.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on the night of Hoshana Rabbah, 10/2/26

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The night called “Leil Hoshana Rabbah” is known as the night of the “Great Salvation.” What is this night during which the correction of Zeir Anpin is completed? In brief, first a person descends into Egypt, into a negative Kli (vessel), and then receives a positive force, the Torah. Then he builds an idol for himself and destroys everything. This is what we are experiencing now, the destructive connections.

Then, gradually he enters the desert and reaches the building of the Temple, when Malchut and Binah completely unite with one another.

A person builds himself over the course of six days, corresponding to the six Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. These are the six days of Sukkot, during which the surrounding light influences him. And the seventh day, when the light enters Malchut, is called the holiday of Simchat Torah, “the Joy of the Torah,” the joy of the Light.

What joy can the light have? The joy of being able to enter the Kli. In other words, after the correction of all six qualities during the six days, on the seventh day the light enters the Kli and fills the egoism. But the light that enters is not the full light of Hochma, but VAK of Hochma, a weak illumination. Keter, Hochma, and Binah are still absent; they will join on the holiday of Purim.

Therefore, after celebrating Simchat Torah, we leave the Sukkah, because according to the law we can no longer remain in it, since a person has already moved into the next state. There is no need to regret it and no need to strive to return to it. Only forward and upward!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/4/26

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There is a well-known article in Shamati that  discusses the meaning of Tzlalim (shadows) and what Tzelem (image or form). It refers to the Masach (screen). If a person shields himself from the Creator and thereby gives Him the opportunity to reveal Himself, then the Creator can be revealed to the extent that the person has concealed themselves. Ultimately, a one-hundred-percent correspondence is always maintained between us and the light.

Once, we were in the world of infinity, where Malchut decided to restrict herself and never receive the light. Malchut imposed the first restriction upon herself and said: “The light will not come to me. And if it does come, it will be only so that I may bestow through this reception, and in no other way.” Therefore, the light comes to the extent that Malchut can shield herself from the light approaching her.

In other words, the relationship between Malchut, the creation, on the one hand, and Keter (the Creator or the light) on the other, is always as follows: if Malchut is one hundred percent closed, the Creator is one hundred percent revealed; and if Malchut is one hundred percent open, unable to impose a restriction upon herself, the Creator is one hundred percent concealed.

The state may be intermediate where the degree to which I open or close myself determines my spiritual degree, that is, the extent to which the Creator is revealed. This is essentially where the worlds are located; it determines which world I am in: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, or Ein Sof (infinity).

In Ein Sof I am completely beneath my screen, and then the Creator can be revealed before me. In our world, I am entirely devoid of a screen, and therefore the Creator completely conceals Himself from me. In the interval between these two states, I am on one degree or another of the worlds, which is called concealments and indicates the relative level of revelation and concealment.

It is precisely this relationship between revelation and concealment that is called a shadow (Tzel). On the night of Hoshana Rabbah, we check the integrity of our “shadow.” In other words, has Zeir Anpin (that is, the “body” of a person) become complete as a result of its correction? Does it have a screen over all the parts of the “body” and, consequently, a “shadow” from each part? Has a person acquired a screen for each of his desires?

This is what one must find out at the end of Sukkot, because throughout Sukkot all the surrounding lights were meant to construct the image (Tzelem) of the Creator within the person, meaning a screen sufficient for all their desires. This is known as examining the “shadow.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on the night of Hoshana Rabbah, 10/2/26

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Drush Vav, Drush six, and this is the discourse for the night of Hoshana Rabbah, in which the matter of this night, which is called the night of the seal, is explained. …

And that seal is the principal inner seal made from the NHY of Ima, from the three names EKYEH, with Yuds, and with Heys, and with Alephs, that are in them. And the Gematria is Chotam, seal, for the external ones do not take hold of Ima. Therefore, at that time, the entire world is judged and sealed, either for life or for death, and that is the principal judgment (The ARI, Leil Hosha’ana Raba).

The Partzuf of Zeir Anpin of Atzilut is called the Creator. He gives us all the Light. Opposite Him are His Nukva, Rachel and Leah. Rachel is the small Nukva, from the Chazeh of Zeir Anpin downward, to its ending, the Parsa. Leah is the great Nukva of Zeir Anpin. Above them is Ima, Binah, which lowers its “legs,” meaning the NHY of Ima descend inside Zeir Anpin.

Where the NHY of Ima are present, Ima, meaning Binah, gives the receiving Kelim a covering of her light of Hassadim. If I remain in the desire to receive, but the NHY of Ima have entered me, then I am truly “covered,” “vaccinated,” and have immunity against any possible problem.

I have the desire to receive, but I also have a vaccination, the NHY of Ima, the light of Hassadim that is within me. Because of this, I simply do not want to use my desire to receive; I am free from it. One hundred percent healthy. This is what Binah provides us with.

Indeed, this is how it should always be with us. After all, the desire to receive can never become good. It simply cannot become good on its own. But if the surrounding light or inner light enters it, in one measure or another, with one quality or another, then it becomes vaccinated against itself, because it receives satisfaction from the light that fills it.

Sometimes we fall into a state where we say: “I don’t need anything. I feel good. I want to feel the spiritual, to be in the spiritual world. This world does not interest me; let everything burn, I don’t care about anything.” How is this possible? Simply because a certain spiritual illumination from above shines upon me slightly, and as a result I feel that the spiritual is worth much more than the corporeal, and I feel good. The desire to receive chooses this.

Or, on the contrary, the spiritual recedes upward somewhat, and I am left with the desire to receive, which becomes stronger than the light that has moved away. Then I have no choice, I want fulfillment for it.

Everything depends on the play of the Upper Light, on how close it is to me or how far away it is. This determines my attitude toward the spiritual: Is it worth it or not? What is preferable, the corporeal or the spiritual?

Therefore, all our work consists of bringing the upper lights closer so that they will influence us. And if we reach a state in which the NHY of Ima clothe within us, then we can be completely calm. This provides a covering, an immunity against the entire desire to receive.

It will never be able to seize me and make me, like a madman, follow all kinds of foolishness. The NHY of Ima will give me such satisfaction that no ego of mine, no property, and no disturbance will be able to approach me and confuse me. This is the state before the night of Hoshana Rabbah.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on the night of Hoshana Rabbah, 10/2/26

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 251

22. Kabbalah Before the Barrier

There is a great difference between the work of the general public and the work of the individual. It is the difference between heaven and earth. A beast has no purpose of creation; it does not ascend anywhere, and just as it was born, it dies, with its role amounting to serving man. This is the degree of the beast. The whole world is on this degree, not even on the degree of Lo Lishma. Certainly, on this degree too there are several changes, states, and degrees, and accordingly, in the animal world there are also countless species and ways of life, from tiny lice to large animals, and they are all copies of the qualities and forms that exist in a person who is on the animate degree.

Lo Lishma is on the beastly degree, and so is most of humanity, including those who relate to life out of a self-aimed intention. What determines the difference between the beastly degree and the human degree is a screen (Masach). There is the self-aimed intention, which is called “fear of this world,” “fear of the next world,” and “fear of reward and punishment,” and there is the intention outside of us, which is fear concerning how much and in what way we will be able to bestow upon the Creator. The latter is fear that is not self-aimed, but outwardly directed. Outside of us there is only “None else besides Him,” and then we are born from the beastly degree into the human degree.

They say that the main thing is studying Lishma, but the problem is that we do not know what Lishma is. Our measure of Lishma is our measure of unity with the Creator that we reach through a screen. We then certainly study Lishma.

Only the goal of Lishma or Lo Lishma brings about the importance of the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is because, if we do not attract the upper light during the study, which we attain through the study of Kabbalah, we cannot rise from the degree of Lo Lishma to the degree of Lishma, acquire a screen, and become a human instead of a beast. There is no other means to do so.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 47, “What Does It Mean that the Right and the Left Are in Contrast, in the Work?” (1991) (10.31.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 11-14, (5.14.2006)

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