Question: Why is our work called work in Lo Lishma if the goal of this work is the Creator?

Answer: A person who is in Lo Lishma, whether they want to or not, works for themselves. This means that both their work, their goal, and their effort is all only for themselves. When they attain Lishma, both their work and their goal change, and no longer the goal, but the work itself becomes the reward for them. Then everything changes.

I have exerted various efforts in order to bestow upon myself as well as upon you because I see benefit in it. Even if that benefit is of the highest order, so what? After all, I do all this because I feel it, me, myself. All this is connected with my “I.”

If, as a result of these efforts, correction comes from above, then everything within me changes. Bestowal for the sake of my own fulfillment disappears completely. What remains are “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” and “reception for the sake of bestowal,” and that is what I do.

Now the effort itself gives me satisfaction; I want to have the opportunity to exert it; I want this work, rather than having some other goal apart from the exertion of effort.

Question: What does a person who works for themselves in Lo Lishma think about? What must they reach?

Answer: A person working in Lo Lishma has many possibilities. There are many degrees within the state of Lo Lishma. We studied what it means “to mock,” and what it means “to hate.” There are different degrees here: working solely for oneself, working only so that another will not receive, and so on.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/26, Rabash, “What Are Banners in the Work?”

Related Material:
Lo Lishma
The Transition to Lishma
On the Verge of Lishma

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