How can a group set an example for me if it consists of people just like me? The fact is, I am initially made to depend on them. I have an ego, envy, a sense of self-worth, and I depend on my friends to fill these Kelim.

Question: What is it that envy in them?

Answer: You are afraid they might have more than you. This is called envy. It is as if you are comparing what is in your Kelim with what is in theirs. Since you remain in similar qualities and feel Hisarons (unfulfilled desires), it hurts to see the other is well.

On the other hand, “a shared trouble is half a consolation.” If everyone is feeling bad, the situation is not so terrible; you are not increasing your Kli at others’ expense.

But if you have a little less than others, it feels like a nightmare, because your vessels include both your Hisaron and others’.

From the very beginning, since the breaking of the vessels, you have this preparatory foundation: a sense of your friend. Only humans have it. The inanimate (Domem), vegetative (Tsomeah), and animate (Chai) levels lack this; they do not have envy. They experience no such feeling.
[362505]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/26, Rabash, “Go Forth from Your Land”

Related Material:
Envy Is The Engine Of Development
Envy Is A Tremendous Force
Envy Is Not A Flaw

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What happens to the animal desires and what should my attitude toward them be?

Answer: Our attitude toward our animalistic desires for food, sex, family should not change. As with all other desires, we should not fight them at all or fixate on them. We should simply acknowledge that they exist.

How much I want or do not want to use them depends on the degree of my correction. I should not lock myself in a monastery or become a hermit in life, go on a strict diet, or anything of the sort.

The truth is that the rule “there is no coercion in spirituality” applies throughout the entire hierarchy from top to bottom. If your mind is focused where it should be, then your heart will follow your thoughts, and your actions follow your heart. For example, there is no need to worry that sometimes you perform actions that do not seem particularly good to you, following the impulses of the body. It is fine; everything will be resolved and corrected.

As the saying goes: “The mother will come and cleanse what her son has done.” That is, correction will come, and either the behavior will cease or it will happen in a different, corrected form. Don’t pay attention to anything else; just keep your mind in the right place, in thoughts shared with the group all directed toward the Creator.

If you begin to ruminate and lament about how bad you are, you will become immersed in these thoughts. But at least after some action or incident—no matter what, you return to the Creator again.

Not regretting the past for even a moment but moving forward is the rule that we must implant into our patterns of behavior. Otherwise, you will sink into despair and devour yourself, as it is said: “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh”: “Am I really like this? Who am I after all?”

Leave yourself alone, connect with the group in striving toward the Creator. Forget about yourself; you must come out of yourself and not think about “where I am and who I am.” You do not yet know who you are. You will still discover this, and then you will truly tremble. There is nothing to think about here; it is simply bad; it stops your advancement.

In general, one never thinks about the past moment, only forward. One must not turn around and look at something behind oneself. This is done only if the group, or a person sets aside a specific time to examine what happened to him and how he related to it.

Rabash gave his grandmother as an example. When he did some mischief, she would say to him only: “Baruch, be careful.” And two days later, she would call him over: “Baruch, come here. Do you remember your offense? Now I am going to give you a beating.” Try doing the same.

The accounting is done, if it is necessary at all, without the participation of nerves and emotions—in the mind, when you have already completely emerged from the feeling of the past.
[362401]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/5/26

Related Material:
Erasing the Past
It Is Pointless To Regret What Was Swallowed In Ein Sof
The Magnitude Of Spiritual Desires

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Teacher | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 264

Is It Wrong to Feel Satisfaction from Spiritual Work and Progress?

On one hand, we need to feel satisfaction from the work we are engaged in, otherwise we will not thank the Creator, but curse Him.

On the other hand, we must understand where we are in order to prepare our vessels for further progress and correction. RABASH writes that every matter, every discernment, contains two polar opposite states within it, and we must become accustomed to this. Also, on the contrary, we must not become accustomed to it, but seek these two states. The more we scrutinize them one against the other, the more they grow and move further apart from each other, which is a sign that we have discerned these matters and are ready to advance.

Also, if we do not pay attention to this and feel no opposition between these discernments, it is a sign that we have not examined any point in the work. Therefore, there is no reason to be surprised when we discover that in every state there are always contradictions and confusions between the discernments, that they struggle and interfere with each other, and that things do not work out. This is normal. In fact, this is correct and good. An ordinary person escapes these states, while those who engage in inner work must not only agree with them, but wait for such states to reach us. “For out of Zion shall come forth the Torah.” That is, the extent to which we exit Kedusha (holiness), from this comes the Torah. This is called “a thing and its opposite,” and it continues until the end of correction.
From a Talk on the Article “The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual” 6/18/2002.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 263
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 262
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 261

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 6 “Confidence” (1986) (1.31.2002)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Selected Highlights

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3AudioAudio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Where does one acquire a Hisaron, a need, to be in a group?

Answer: A person has no need to be in the group. The need will not arise on its own. It will arise only on condition that the group itself shows the person the extent to which he needs it; otherwise, he will not attain the goal. The group will not provide the person with any other goal; he must know this too. Here, in our group, he cannot attain anything other than one goal. Nothing else.

If he thinks that he will find a cozy place here, delicious food, social gatherings, excursions, and so on, then the atmosphere must be such that only someone striving in the right direction feels good in it.

Everything else may be good or not so good, comfortable or not quite comfortable; that is unimportant. The backrest of the chair should suit only someone who thinks precisely this way.

Even if there are the most delicious meals here… I can show you states in which you receive everything in your life: money, fame, anything you want. However, I will introduce something into this situation that will make you run away from all of it. You will run away because of one single thing, for example, shame. And you will not want any of it; it will be easier for you to die.

The same should be true in the group: a person who is not connected to the goal should feel here that “death is better than this kind of life.” “I do not need this kind of life; I am running away from it.” We had such a case when one of the students suddenly cried out: “What are you doing here?”

It was simply a classic example. He suddenly felt what stood before him, and he ran away in the blink of an eye. That was a genuine revelation. Do you remember that outburst of emotion? He had never experienced anything like it before. In the middle of the lesson, he suddenly cried out and ran away.

In the same way, it must be clear to everyone that they will feel good here and feel that this is their place only in one particular case. There is no place here for anything else.

Question: How can we reach this?

Answer: This is what you must build. That is what it means to “build the group.” The shape of the chair’s backrest, which allows only someone whose head is turned toward the Creator to sit on it; that is what a correct society is. Perhaps I lack the words to express it, but little by little, we are nevertheless beginning to sense these boundaries in some way.
[360809]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Benefits Of Being In The Group
The Influence of the Group upon the Person
What Does a Person Receive from the Group?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What is the difference between different Kabbalistic authors?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that there are differences between the books of different authors, both from an inner and an external perspective, including differences in the language in which they wrote their works.

Of course, we are talking about Kabbalistic authors. Each has their own degree, their own character, and their own measure of revelation. Therefore, we should learn only from one special soul: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam (Yehuda Ashlag). It is one and the same soul that manifested in this world in three different eras, using the same method to reveal the method of correction.

As Baal HaSulam writes, there may have been other Kabbalists who were even greater. For example, Rabbi Akiva was a much greater Kabbalist than Rabbi Shimon. However, none of them were sent here to become our teachers. Therefore, we must study the books of our teachers.

That is essentially all there is to it! If this is not enough for someone, and they try to dig up something else with their enlightened intellect, perhaps, thanks to their wisdom, they will find the way, but only several centuries from now.
[360814]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

Related Material:
Two Incarnations Of A Great Soul
The Man Who Came To Lead Us Upward
First-Hand Method

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What enables me to exist  between the intention for the sake of receiving and the intention for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: Only a force from above, the surrounding light (Ohr Makif). Within myself, there are no such capabilities.

Question: It is said that one must work against one’s desire, yet crossing the Machsom, requires a strong desire. How can these things reconcile?

Answer: We must not work against the desire. Desires themselves are neither good nor bad. No human action can be called good or bad if we are speaking about the spiritual rather than the human level. I must focus only one thing: is this action being performed for the benefit of the Creator or for the benefit of the person himself?

There is no need to examine the desire. Let us suppose that someone stole something; then perhaps he actually performed a very important and useful deed. Maybe it was an operation for the sake of the state, for the sake of the motherland, for the sake of saving humanity from some evil forces, who knows. We cannot consider an action in itself and declare that it is forbidden.

Baal HaSulam writes that everything should be considered, not in an abstract form, but in a form clothed in matter; that is, to clarify for what purpose it was done. He says that you cannot simply insist on the concept of truth. The Torah forbids this, saying that truth is truth, but there is also a human life.

Therefore, it is necessary to look, not at the action, but at its essence, to examine for whose sake it is being performed. That is precisely why I say that if we constantly think about the concept of bestowing, it will become clear to us that by doing so, we are checking who benefits from it. Bestowal is performed in relation to what is outside of me.
[361640]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/26, Rabash, “The Rosh Hashanah Prayer”

Related Material:
Against One’s Will
Steps Of Overcoming
Help Me Bestow Against My Will

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What does it mean to be together in one state? What does this togetherness look like?

Answer: What does “together” mean? It means that each person feels truly at home only when they are connected to the goal of attaining the Creator. As for everything else, each person approaches it according to their own emotional makeup, but all feel an equal degree of rejection.

Question: Regardless of their own personal state?

Answer: There are different personal states; there is nothing more to say about that. But all of them are intended to advance us.

You need to awaken in a friend the feeling that you are somehow transmitting to them your own sense of the importance of the Creator and the need to recognize His greatness. You influence them, and they feel certain waves coming from you.

Question: Is this within my power, or does it depend on the friend?

Answer: It is within your power in relation to all the friends. Without a doubt. Start doing it, and you will see what happens. There is enormous power in this; it is a tremendous force. This is a degree entirely different from all the other wandering thoughts and forces around us.
[360860]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Meaning of “Being Together”
Work inside the Ten
Only Together!

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Does a person enter a state of double concealment only when suffering increases, or can an excess of pleasure also lead to this?

Answer: Double concealment is a state in which I do not sense the Creator at all and I attribute everything that happens to fate. In that case, it does not matter whether I enter this state through the sensation of intense pleasure or great sufferings.

Let us consider the state of the Kli (vessel) in the first of the four stages of the direct light. Here the Kli perceives itself as experiencing pleasure, to a greater or lesser degree, or even suffering; that is, it feels fulfillment, and within that fulfillment it senses the root stage included within the first one. It feels its root, the Creator, the one who fills it.

We need to clarify the relationship between myself and the Creator with regard to the Kli: to what extent does the presence or absence of fulfillment affect whether I pay attention to the master or not, or whether He completely disappears from me and I am truly only within my own sensation in the Kli.

Then the relationship between the Kli (the extent to which it feels itself fulfilled or senses the absence of fulfillment) and the master (the extent to which He is felt in a person or not) indicates the level on which the person is.

Of course, when the sensation of either suffering or pleasures prevails over the sensation of the master at a given moment, it disconnects me from the master. I see a million dollars, forget about the Creator, and steal them. Or, conversely, I have lost a million dollars, so I forget about the Creator and cry, because I have nothing in the whole world except the sensation of my loss.

Even doctors and physiologists say that in the body’s internal reactions, there is no difference between a person who is crying and one who is laughing. The body performs the same work.

Therefore, we speak of the level of sensations much like an absolute value, as in mathematics, without taking into account whether the sensation is positive or negative. We are speaking about the level of impression, whether it is positive or negative, when the impression within the desire to receive grows so great that it disconnects me from the master and rules over me.
[362658]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/26, Baal HaSulam “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1”

Related Material:
Calculations Before and After the Machsom
When the Importance of Connection with the Creator Prevails
So That The Concealment Does Not Hide The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →