Question: It is said that even a commandment without an intention is called a commandment of the Creator. Yet we study that a commandment without an intention is like a body without a soul. How can these be reconciled?

Answer: When Kabbalists write about commandments without intention, they do not mean ordinary people. Ask a child who learned at the age of 13 to put on Tefillin why he does it, and he will say: “That is how I was taught.” Another, a bit wiser, will answer: “It is the Creator’s will, and so I do it.” A third will say: “I want to gain something good for myself through this.” There are many different reasons.

The Kabbalists who wrote the books never meant the physical actions of our bodies. When they say that a person performs an action without intention, it means that I am making every possible effort, yet I still do not have the intention for the sake of bestowal. Perhaps I am trying to act for the sake of bestowal, perhaps I do not yet understand, but I am already engaged in this and investing some effort.

In our community, there are many people who do not know what the intention for the sake of bestowal is, not even what spirituality is. Yet they made an effort and came at three in the morning to study. I do not think that many of them clearly understand why they are here, analyze their intention, clarify it, and are now implementing that intention.

No, for many, this is still an initial state. But they are making inner efforts, performing various actions, as it is written: “Whatever is in your power and ability to do, do.” They make different attempts to attain something to which they are being pushed from above. This is called actions without intention.

That is, the Kabbalists do not mean people who were taught to mechanically observe commandments and therefore do so. They mean those who sit here with the desire to attain the correct intention, but in whom it has not yet been revealed.

This is a transitional period in which a person gradually begins to see various states and what to do with them.
[351735]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/26, Rabash, “Concerning the Reward of the Receivers”

Related Material:
Understand the Inner Meaning of the Commandment
Actions And Commandments
“Material Commandments” And Correction Of The World

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work | Add Comment →