Comment: As far as I know, ordinary religious people have the greatest desire to receive.

My Response: The Book of Zohar says such a person wants to “swallow” this world to some extent, so he and his children will be happy here. He also wants to be happy in the next world. It is like he is contributing to the “world-to-come fund,” so something is left for afterward.

This is a natural human desire that cannot be considered bad. This is how a person works if he has not come to genuine work for the Creator, and this is how the masses work. People follow the commandments, do everything necessary, and the truth is, this is how it should be; the framework is needed anyway.

Until a person reaches a high stage of soul development, when he needs the upper one, to really approach religion in the middle line, they will be religious at a level below the middle line, which is called Domem de Kedusha (the inanimate level of holiness or the holy still).

Below the middle line, before development begins in it, there is a point called a religious person in the sense of this world. You see such people, for example, in Bnei Brak [Israel]. This is an inanimate level of holiness, and that is good. Such a person fulfills the Torah and the commandments through the material actions of this world and hopes to receive reward in both this world and the world to come. Everything is in order.

They should not be told what true correction is because they are not yet able to come to it. “Do not put obstacles before the blind.” You just need to not interfere with them and protect them, as Kabbalists have done for all generations. After all, all the holy books were written by people who attained spirituality, Kabbalists, who wrote in such a way as not to touch the people, taking care of them, as they say, “wearing gloves.”

What can you do if so many people have not yet reached development as part of the overall advancement of mankind? We must wait. Man has lived on Earth for tens of thousands of years, and you can see how it manifests: from the time of Abraham to the present day, only a few have really sought to come to religion through the middle line. And without desire, nothing can be done.

Once a person starts wondering, “What is the meaning of my life?”—meaning life in this world in general—and is already striving for spirituality to experience real life there, you can already talk to him. Before then, do not touch him because he will not understand you. His desires, his inner part, are not yet ready to accept anything.

Therefore, if a religious person, what is called a “Jew,” wants to fulfill the Torah and commandments as he was taught, and receive reward for it, please, it is very commendable; this maintains him as a part of the people, saves him for the next correction, which will come when the Creator slightly illuminates his point in the heart. Then he will feel it and begin to develop.

The religious unknowingly think that I am against them and that something is wrong here. I am not against them; we do not touch them at all. We only want to gather those who already feel a point in their heart, who are wondering: “What is the meaning of our life in this world?” for whom such a life has no meaning. For them, we have an answer: Each of them has been chosen to begin their own personal correction.
[360322]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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Question: It is written that a person must become convinced that he is incapable of doing anything about their state, and then turn to the Creator. Where does the stage of restriction (Tzimtzum) come into this?

Answer: Restriction occurs after a person has fully realized their state. This is described in the story of the exodus from Egypt. Restriction occurs when a person receives strength from above, after he himself, through his own efforts, has come to recognize the evil.

As it is written in the Torah, he experiences the “seven years of plenty,” followed by the “seven years of famine.” Initially, he believes that by receiving, he will fill himself and achieve all kinds of success, seeing some benefit in this. But then he sees that the spiritual development of his desire to receive leads, on the contrary, to this desire becoming empty. This is manifested as weakness, an inability to do anything, a lack of desire, apathy toward this world, and it seems we do not succeed in it. Naturally, a person resists this state because otherwise he would simply leave the path.

And then he reaches the state of “Pharaoh,” when the “plagues” overtake him. In other words, we do not despair in our work; rather, we enter a period of blows. If it were not for these blows, we would in any case be prepared, so to speak, to quietly die. However, these blows come in order to clarify the point of “Moses” in relation to the point of “Pharaoh” within us. Both begin to grow from the state called the “seven years of famine.”

But this is only on the condition that, during these seven years, a person “builds Pithom and Ramses”; that is, he sweats and labors, even though he feels that he is in a bad state. And then, upon completing this entire process of opposition between Moses and Pharaoh, a person reaches the point where he “flees from Pharaoh.”

At that point, he already goes, to some extent, above reason: He agrees to flee from his desire to receive “in the middle of the night,” simply so as not to touch it to the extent that he has recognized it as his ruler. And all of this is still before the Machsom! A person has discovered how much evil his desire to receive causes him.

Then, according to the principle “I labored and found,” he receives the strength of restriction from above. But one must always understand to which degree the particular strength of restriction that he receives corresponds. When leaving his Egypt, he receives this strength at the very lowest degree: it corresponds to the desire to receive that he developed in “Egypt” during the “seven years of plenty” and to the evil that he recognized during the “seven years of famine.”

In other words, this is still a very small desire to receive’ you could say, one corresponding to this world. As Baal Sulam says, if we take all the desires of this world, they will be like a spark, a “faint illumination,” in comparison with spiritual desires.

Therefore, a person still lacks the degree that would enable him to hold himself in spirituality even at the smallest level. This is the “crossing of the Final Sea,” the “three days in the desert.” Nevertheless, the exodus from Egypt is already birth, the birth of the screen.
[360494]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Question: On one hand, it is considered that in spiritual work one needs to have a great Hisaron (deficiency, desire), and on the other hand, faith. What are these two poles?

Answer: These are two opposites. The point in the heart is neutral. It is the beginning of the middle line and it is positioned in relation to the light, which always comes into the middle line. And the two opposites, the two extremes, are the qualities of the Creator on the right and, as it were, the qualities of the creation on the left.

These two forces, receiving and bestowing, have been given to you so that you can begin to use them within yourself in the proper proportion. To the extent that you are able to take from the right line, you should take the same from the left line and correctly combine them so as not to be dependent on either one, while constantly being aware that these forces within you are needed in order to attain the goal.

We should use them only in this way. Otherwise, I have no need for them—neither the quality of receiving nor the quality of bestowing. If I use them without a purposeful intention, then I am simply in a Klipa (shell. impurity), either on the right or on the left one. Their proper use occurs when I am between them and want to attain the middle line.

The middle line means that I, and the action I am performing at this moment in order to combine the right and left lines, and the Creator whom I want to attain are all connected together at a single point. In this way, I truly perform the correct action and build the middle line.
[360378]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

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Question: Let’s say a person reaches a point where he condemns the Creator because he is suffering. The Creator sent him this state, and he does not agree with it. What does it mean that he must now find a reason to justify the Creator?

Answer: No! If I have received something from above, first of all, I notice that I feel something. Then I suddenly remember that what is happening to me came from the Creator. Then I analyze if what I received from the Creator is good or bad? And then, once it has already happened, do I feel that it came specifically from Him?

Perhaps the phenomenon itself is felt as bad by me, but when I remember that I received it from the Creator, it changes for the better, because I begin to see a purpose in it, and there is some justification for it.

Now the question is: What do I think in this situation? I can think that I am receiving blows from the Creator, but then He will somehow compensate for it later. Is such an attitude toward the Creator justified? Is His governance considered good? Or should I reach a state where I truly feel this governance as good, since in His world there is no evil?

In other words, I have to come to a state where I do not perceive evil at all, because if I feel bad, consciously or unconsciously, I blame Him. The bad feeling itself implies that the one who causes it is bad.

Now I must make a calculation: Do I want to feel good for the sake of feeling good, or to avoid not labeling Him bad? And so on. There is something to analyze here. Here, a person goes through a Tzimtzum, a restriction.

What is restriction? It means that how I feel it does not matter to me. The main thing is that my attitude toward Him is good. And then a transformation takes place; no matter how much adversity I face, I feel good.

Otherwise, how can a person enter a state of perfection and eternity? How can one reach the state that Rabbi Akiva was in, when his skin was being flayed alive while he was reciting “Shema Yisrael” (“Hear, O Israel” ) at that time?

Was he under anesthesia? How could he recite the prayer, meaning, be at such a level of adhesion with the Creator, of eternal love and perfection, while enduring such pain? He attained such a degree where his skin, the final degree of Malchut, was being torn away, yet he united that act with “Shema Yisrael,” with the intention for the sake of bestowal. The skin being flayed from his face represents  GAR de Hochma, the highest levels of the light of wisdom. That was the correction he achieved!
[361945]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 260

Why Do We Study Kabbalah Before the Barrier?

Before the barrier, we study Kabbalah because through it we can acquire a screen, an intention of Lishma. This is the only reason for studying. Of utmost importance is that such study should bring us to Lishma. The means itself is unimportant. A means is required in order to reach Lishma, and Kabbalah is the single appropriate means.

Baal HaSulam explains that studying Kabbalah books, of all the holy books, awakens the greatest surrounding light. It is possible to awaken surrounding lights by reading any of the holy books because all these books were written from a spiritual degree, and those who connect to them with the intention of reaching Lishma, spirituality, receive surrounding light through them from that same place. Of all the holy books, including the Tanakh, Gemara, books of laws and Halachot, legends, Prophets, and so on, the language of Kabbalah and the books of Kabbalah awaken the greatest surrounding light, and therefore we use such means.

We need Kabbalah because we need a means for attracting the surrounding light. Why? This is because the surrounding light brings about a screen, or in other words, an intention of Lishma. While many understand that we need to reach Lishma, the problem is in the interpretation of Lishma and Lo Lishma.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1 (5.13.2004)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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What is the state in which a person finds himself in the boundary layer at the crossing of the Machsom? We need to know what states arise so that we can monitor ourselves and understand whether we are already there or still here.

We are not speaking about the heavens suddenly opening, or about certain forces, lightning, angels, and so on appearing. We are speaking only about an inner sensation: whether a deeper vision of the universe is being revealed to us, a vision beyond its boundaries—the forces that govern it, the general thought, plan, and will, and about how this is sensed by us.

All this arises within a person, subjectively, while outwardly nothing changes. The world remains the same and has no idea that one of its inhabitants has entered a degree of direct connection with the Creator.

As Maimonides writes, the world continues to exist just as it does now. Moreover, he writes this about Gmar Tikkun, the very last point of correction, when not only one person but all people attain the highest point of existence—eternal and perfect.

Our world seems so defective, insignificant, dirty, incredibly small, and suffocating. But, in fact, we will see that this is not so at all; our perception will change.

Thus, nothing changes around a person; his worldview and sensation change. The crossing of the Machsom itself consists of several stages. This transition fluctuates: a person is sometimes above his egoism and sometimes below it. This happens several times, alternately. Then the final and complete breakthrough occurs.

At the beginning of the crossing of the Machsom, a person’s state can be compared to being in water. Sometimes he is above the surface and sometimes below it; he seems to plunge into the desires and thoughts of only this world, into thoughts about himself, for himself, and using others for his own sake.

In other words, this is what we think: “I should work for the group, connect with the friends, study…” But why should I do it? So that I can advance. This state is called “below the Machsom,” and this is where we are. The second state is when a person is, as it were, above the surface of the water.

Then he understands that all egoists are like children, because they were created this way by the Creator. They are not to blame for acting as they do. Therefore, the Creator is completely lenient toward them, because He is the one who created them this way.

And one who rises above the Machsom, as above the surface of the water, begins to feel within himself that he wishes everyone well and wants to help them. He feels the need to relate to everyone as the Creator relates to them, because rising above the Machsom means adhesion and becoming similar to the Creator’s thoughts.

Then he begins asking the Creator to show him how He relates to humanity so that he may become increasingly similar to Him. He does not want to rise merely for the sake of rising, but in order to justify the Creator’s plan concerning all humanity.

He begins to feel the need for this justification. He is afraid that he does not yet understand or recognize how the Creator relates to everyone and that, somewhere, perhaps, he even disagrees with Him.

The state after the Machsom is when a person already desires a greater revelation of the Creator, not so that it will be pleasant for him to see how everything in the world moves according to one system, but in order to justify the Creator. Although he cannot truly justify Him, he desires to do so because, by this, he brings Him contentment.
[362187]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/29/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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If a person wants to cross the Machsom, he must leave his “self”: I do not exist; I am outside myself; I am leaving myself. Kabbalists do not speak or write much about this method of drawing closer to the higher degree and becoming similar to it because there is a danger here that people will be carried away into all kinds of fantasies and illusions and begin imagining that they are already floating somewhere out there, though no one knows where or how.

Such imaginings may be practiced only together with actions within the group, through joint actions in relation to the friends. Simply sitting and fantasizing about these matters is not recommended because it would be an action detached from reality, carrying you somewhere unknown, and where you would eventually find yourself would be impossible to know.

But imagining oneself as leaving one’s “self,” I do not exist, I am present in the thoughts and desires of others and act only in accordance with their thoughts and desires—is our very first exercise. As soon as a person becomes capable of performing such an action upon himself, he begins to sense the others rather than himself. He begins clearly to see one single force throughout the world that governs everything.

Why does he begin to sense this? Because he has left himself, become included in this force, adapted himself to it, and united with it, since its principal quality is also the absence of a “self.” Then the person sees that absolutely all people in the world—the wicked and the righteous, the capable and the foolish, the savage and the civilized—all simply carry out one thought.

No one has any personal desire or personal movement; everything is determined by one intention, which simply exists in the world like a field. Everything and everyone move only in accordance with it.

Each person is a mechanism that operates in a state of maximum fulfillment with minimum expenditure. And this mechanism automatically takes its place each time, acting in accordance with this field.

This field is called the Creator. More precisely, it is not yet the Creator, but the manifestation of His governance in relation to all those who are in this world. A person begins to see that everything operates according to one law, one rule, one will. To the extent that, he has shed his “self,” he unites with this thought and this will and wishes to enter further into the Creator’s field, he begins to see how everything in relation to him becomes good.

Naturally, nothing changes in relation to him; he simply begins to see how good it truly is. He sees that everyone else carries out this thought because his thought and the Creator’s thought have merged into one. He sees that everything in the world is done for his sake and for his benefit.

And even if, in his opinion, something harmful is happening, he still understands that it is not bad; it is simply impossible to act otherwise in the states in which people find themselves. Therefore, he approves of and understands them so completely that even if someone were to approach him and threaten his life, he would be unable to oppose him with anything. He loses his “self” to such an extent and feels that everything happening around him is absolutely correct.

I give such extreme examples, which are not yet entirely clear to us, only so that they may give us some understanding of what it means to rise a little above the Machsom. They are intended to let us sense, at least slightly, this boundary crossing from there to here, and back again.
[362183]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/29/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Each of us possesses all kinds of qualities. Some seem good to us, others bad; we agree with some and disagree with others.

Many of our traits are unknown even to us. We discover them within ourselves and are horrified, or, on the contrary, perhaps we feel pleased by what we uncover. We have qualities that we conceal from ourselves; we are ashamed that they exist in us, so we hide them deep inside.

We also present ourselves to ourselves in a certain way. A complete revelation of ourselves could cause such suffering that a person simply would not be able to continue existing. Therefore, we constantly maintain ourselves in a false but comfortable state.

But suppose we imagine what our nature truly means; we are horrified; what next? Are we even capable of correcting ourselves?

An ancient prayer says: “God, grant me the strength to change what I can in my life. Grant me the courage to accept what is beyond my power to change. And grant me the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.”

This is a proper, practical way of addressing life. It concerns an ordinary person: show me what I can do and I will know where I can apply my efforts; show me what I cannot do—why should I keep banging my head against a wall if I cannot change anything anyway?

In other words, let me see this, and give me the strength to work on what I can change. If only I knew correctly what I can change and what I cannot, and could relate wisely to the difference, life would already become much easier.

But this prayer speaks not merely about a peaceful, everyday level of life. It speaks about the fact that, despite everything, we must completely correct ourselves. How can we complete this?

I can say one thing: until a person begins to sense the Creator, before the Machsom, not yet in an explicit form, but as an implicit manifestation of the general plan, the common field of love permeating and guiding everything, there is no hope or possibility that anything within him will change.

But how can we correct ourselves? We cannot! Only the manifestation of the Creator can help us: the revelation of the light, the sensation of the world in which we live, and the realization that behind everything we currently perceive stands one, unique, constant, and benevolent governing force. Until we sense this, we will not want to become like it. But as soon as we do, we begin to correct ourselves to that extent.

Here we can draw a very important conclusion: A person must never think that he has to correct himself, because this is impossible. No one expects us to pull ourselves out by our own hair from the swamp in which we are trapped. Only to the extent that the Creator is revealed to us and draws us toward Him do we become corrected.

Therefore, this is the only thing we should think about and strive toward. But we should not strive toward it because “it will be good.” We should strive because we want to resemble Him, because we desire to be like Him in relation to humanity and to creation.
[361978]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/24/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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