Question: When working, are you only in a curse or only in a blessing?

Answer: No. As we rise above the Machsom, we are alternately under a curse and a blessing. After the breaking of the vessels, while under the curse, we can take the Kelim of reception from there, correct them, and transition to a blessing. So every time, we transfer the Kelim from the rule of many to the rule of one.

The rule of the one is the Sabbath (Shabbat); on a weekday, we can use the rule of many when we descend to uncorrected Kelim of reception. The power of many means I think I, too, am in control of the situation and can do something. These are desires in which there is no oneness of the Creator.

What connects these two types of power? What kind of lever helps me move from the left line to the right, from a curse to a blessing? This is Lo Lishma. From Lo Lishma we come to Lishma. Although your own desire to receive is still present in Lo Lishma, you seem to want to act for the sake of the Creator, seemingly with the intention of giving, yet you clearly know you are doing it for the sake of receiving.

In Lo Lishma, you work for the reward. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: if you clearly see that you will not receive a reward in your Kelim of reception, you cannot act. Therefore, this state is called “Lo Lishma” (for oneself). Moreover, it becomes an indisputable fact on which you base your decisions.

“Yes, I would really like to do something for the sake of giving. It is very important; I got that impression from the environment. I do not see the Creator. If I could see Him, I could act truly for the sake of giving. Seeing Him would give me the strength to act for the sake of giving.” The light that comes corrects the Kli; this is the meaning of seeing the Creator.

However, when I cannot see Him, when I am in the dark, I can only get a similar impression from my environment. So, no matter how much I pump myself up about the importance of the goal, it still is not the light, nor is it the correction of the Kli through the light. This is, so to speak, a correction through brainwashing. This brainwashing makes me feel like I want to act for the sake of giving, but if I get nothing from it, I cannot do it.

Thus, we are talking about very vague things, in their own way. There is no light here coming and correcting the Kli. On the contrary, man has created a situation where he seems to draw strength from the environment, not from the Creator, and this strength seems enough for him to act for the sake of giving. Everything is conditional, but I ingrained this condition into the situation; I created it.

If a person does everything this way, the Creator responds to him for real, not within the framework of a game a person started.

Lo Lishma is a game: “I wish it were like that.” The same way kids make believe they are building something. But when I tried and did everything I could, as if it were already about spirituality, then the Creator comes and really gives me spirituality.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?”

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