Why is fulfilling the commandment of Sukkah equivalent to all the other commandments? It is because the Sukkah symbolizes faith, and faith is the screen and reflected light through which a person can perform the commandments. Bestowal upon the Creator (Hashpa’ah) is called a commandment (Mitzvah), equivalence with the Creator is called a commandment, adhesion (Dvekut) with the Creator is called a commandment.

A commandment is working with the desire to receive for the sake of bestowal, which is possible only according to the measure of the screen and reflected light.

Therefore, Rabash says that all those who betray faith receive a curse. That is, one who is unable to work with the intention for the sake of bestowal, who has neither a screen nor reflected light, has no faith, and then instead of a blessing, he receives a curse.

Conversely, those who preserve their faith will face no obstacles. Therefore, the main thing is to work on maintaining faith and ensuring that faith prevails over reason.

Thus, one must always be concerned with the intention to bring contentment to the Creator, so that only the magnitude of the intention to bestowa becomes the magnitude of the Kli (vessel) with which the person works.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

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Question: What is the essence of the connection between faith and the “covering of the Sukkah” (Schach)?

Answer: Schach and faith are one and the same. If they are the same thing, what connection can there be between them? If they were two different things, I would explain the connection between them, but this is simply one and the same phenomenon. We are not speaking at all about a material roof made of plants. When we speak of the covering of the Sukkah, we are referring to the screen that a person builds above his head.

Schach symbolizes things that were once alive and growing, but have now died, things that have reached the end of their life cycle. A person once enjoyed these things, but now they are dead to him; the spirit of life has departed from them. In his eyes, they have lost all importance and are entirely unsuitable for his advancement. He then takes these things, which have no importance for him anymore, and raises them above his head.

The Schach is constructed of objects that have practically no use: scraps of wood, leaves, and branches that cannot be used for anything other than perhaps burning them to heat a little water. What else can be done with these objects? It is impossible to build something from them. The covering of the Sukkah is not made from standard building material, such as solid timber. There are specific laws concerning this.

When a person raises things that have no importance according to the perceptions of his desire to receive above his head, it means that he is proceeding by faith above reason. Then the Schach is faith, while his knowledge is located inside the Sukkah.

A person is ready to work with his knowledge, which is smaller than his faith, or to use it only in accordance with the measure of his faith. This is called having his entire vessel of reception under the cover of the decision not to receive for himself, under the cover of the Schach, the screen. Then a person sits in the shade of the Sukkah, whose shade must be greater than the sunlight entering it. There must be so little sunlight in the Sukkah that it is almost imperceptible.

Today, we cover the Sukkah with thin slats. Rabash made sure that they were placed so closely together that almost no light could enter through them. It was not a matter of seeing the sky or the stars, only the faintest trace of light. I once asked why. It looked almost like a house. The roof was unattractive, but it was truly a roof. I was told that this was the custom: to make it very dense.

This is one of the symbols indicating the immense power and strength of the canopy, the force of mercy. This is what one must be concerned with rather than the amount of light filtering through the roof.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 249

How Does the Creator Bring About the States We Go Through?

It is written that the light shakes the vessel. This is the only way. The more or less it shines, the more the vessel rises or falls. There is no other force besides the light that can influence the vessel. But the light influences the vessel and its parts selectively, according to the vessel’s ability to advance. The light itself is a simple, abstract light that shines upon the vessel like a simple flashlight, but it creates a special system between itself and the vessel called the “worlds.”

The light that passes through the worlds and shines upon the vessel acquires a special form that illuminates precisely the part of the vessel that is supposed to become active at that moment. The light shines with exactly the intensity and in exactly the manner required for a particular organ to act now, to correct itself, and to feel something. In other words, the worlds that stand between the light and the vessel adapt the light precisely to each individual vessel according to its nature. Then each vessel receives exactly what it needs and responds and becomes corrected accordingly.

Therefore, it is said in Kabbalah that the worlds are a system of control, a system of governance, a system of providence. What are the worlds for? The worlds are built in accordance with the vessels, only in an opposite form. That is, they understand the deficiencies in the vessels, and they exist in the worlds in a positive form. When we study the world of Atzilut, not technical studies, as Baal HaSulam writes, but when we truly begin to see how the world of Atzilut prepares its influence for the souls, with what wisdom it knows exactly how and for what purpose to prepare its influence in each and every soul, the picture is truly magnificent.

In Kabbalah, we simply learn that the worlds were created as a copy. There was the shattering of the world of Nekudim, and from that shattering the worlds were formed. Therefore, we begin counting the worlds from the world of Atzilut onward, whereas the world of Adam Kadmon, the world of Keter, is the light that shines from Ein Sof (Infinity). Ein Sof is completely abstract light. That light is divided in the world of Adam Kadmon into five original lights, according to the five parts that exist in the original vessel, the four phases of direct light. Afterward, the world of Atzilut, which arose from the remnants of the shattering, channels the lights to the souls that exist in the worlds of BYA and arranges them so that they influence each and every part, in every soul, exactly according to the order of corrections that each soul requires.

Therefore, we study primarily the world of Atzilut because it explains everything that happens, and through it we can learn about the souls. The world of Atzilut is in complete correspondence with what should exist in the soul. Therefore, we do not study souls directly. We study only ourselves. “From Your actions we know You.” The study of the world of Atzilut is, in fact, the study of the souls, one corresponding to the other. The study of the world of Atzilut is fascinating and awe-inspiring. Through it we understand what change each individual detail undergoes when the light descends upon it, what it is about to correct, what within the soul is awakened, how it responds both consciously and unconsciously, and how the created being begins to awaken and come into existence from a state in which it was not yet a created being at all. It is a wondrous picture, truly a marvel.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Sukkot 2003, Lesson 12 (10.16.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “There Is One Who Buys His World in One Hour” (1.27.2017)

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Question: Is faith always the most important thing that a person must attain first?

Answer: It is not merely the most important thing. Faith is the only thing we must attain, and nothing else besides it. “The righteous will live by his faith.” Besides the screen and the reflected light, the light of Bina, in which the Ohr Hochma (the light of wisdom) is clothed, there is nothing else. Therefore, this is the only thing we should be concerned with.

What is the connection here with the holiday of Sukkot? After a person has passed through the period of the exodus from Egypt and received the Torah, through its light he sees himself as weak and contemptible in his original qualities, with which he was created.

In this way, he attains a full awareness of his soul, which is represented by Yom Kippur (the Day of Judgment), and approaches the stage of his correction called Sukkot. Sukkot is Schach (the covering of the Sukkah), and Schach is the screen and reflected light.

What does “Tzel” (shadow) mean? “In His shadow I sat, and I delighted…” To delight while sitting in the shade means to delight in bestowing upon the Creator, rather than in the Light that comes without being clothed in the shadow, that is, without being clothed in the light of Bina.

These are all symbols. In essence, we should see this in every commandment and in every matter: There is nothing besides the light, the Kli, and the screen between them; everything, in essence, comes down to one thing.

Sometimes, when we do not understand very well what is being discussed, we begin to enter into the details of a commandment. In general, such a major commandment as Sukkot, which is equal in importance to all the other commandments, is more or less clear, and all the actions involved in carrying it out can easily be imagined.

However, there are commandments that speak of particular corrections of the Kli during the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), of attaching the ascending AHP de Aliyah, when one makes a correction on Yesod rather than on Malchut, and so on. Here, the problem arises of how to accurately grasp all kinds of particular states. But in general, the essence of all spiritual actions, which are called commandments, is the correction of the screen. The size of the screen is called the measure of faith, and through faith one receives knowledge, the revelation of the divine.

The revelation of the Creator can also occur before faith appears, in order to give birth to it. This is called, “Know the Creator, your Almighty and serve Him.” We need the revelation of the Creator also because in this way the screen manifests within us and is built. If we ask the Creator to reveal Himself for this purpose, it happens, and a person, bowing before the Creator, submits to Him. This submission is our screen.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

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On Yom Kippur, a confrontation takes place between the entire Kli (vessel), which is revealed in all its egoistic depth, and the light that must correct and fill this Kli.

Therefore, on Yom Kippur, a person does not eat, drink, or wash, has no marital relations, and does not anoint himself with oils, because oil symbolizes the light of Hochma, the body symbolizes the desire to receive, and the external reception of the light of Hochma symbolizes the process called Sikha—smearing or anointing. It is also forbidden to wear anything made of leather, because leather is considered a covering, an external garment, whereas at this time everything is exposed; there is not yet an external Kli.

A person has internal and external Kelim. The internal Kelim were formed in one during the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet). These are the Kelim for the lights of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama. But for Haya and Yehida, for the light of Hochma, there are external Kelim, the Levush ve Heichal (garments and a house, walls).

We have three qualities that exist together within us: Shoresh, Neshama, and Guf (root, soul, and body). In addition, there is a garment over us and walls around us that we build as our own.

Garments and walls also exist in the material world because of the imperfection of our Kelim. If we were internally complete, we would not need clothing, as Adam HaRishon did not, nor walls, that is, any space in which a person resides.

These categories, these Kelim, would exist within us. But now we partially compensate for their absence through clothing and through a house. All this results from the defectiveness of our Kelim, from human imperfection. After correction, this gradually enters within a person, and he no longer needs either garments or a house.

The light that comes to us on Yom Kippur shows us how imperfect our Kli is; all its negative qualities are revealed within it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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What does it mean that the Torah (from the word Horaah, instruction or method) is acquired? Everything is done only through light and vessels; there is nothing else. When one receives the light that can gradually correct the vessels, it is necessary that this light and the Kelim not simply exist as two things opposite one another, but that the light first enter the Kelim and impart its qualities to them.

This occurs after the upper light called Moses (from the word “Limshoch,” to draw, to pull egoism from below upward toward the light) descends. Moses embodies the aspiration of all a person’s qualities to be corrected and to attract the upper light to themselves. That is, after Moses draws this light to himself, since the soul initially possesses only a single quality, the point in the heart, the soul must undergo a shattering.

We know that every connection begins with the breaking of the Kelim (vessels). Subsequently the qualities of the light enter the qualities of the Kelim and establish a connection between them. Only afterward, through a different light, the light of correction, do the sparks of the light that fell into egoism during the shattering begin to align the ego with themselves and correct it.

Thus, the breaking of the Kelim must take place. Moses receives the Torah and descends with it from the mountain to the remaining qualities (the people) while they are making the golden calf. Moses symbolically breaks the tablets; that is, the light enters the vessel, and the breaking occurs.

The process of the breaking of the Kelim had already occurred in the world of Nekudim and with Adam HaRishon. Now the same thing is happening. It is one and the same process without which there would be no connection between the light and the Kelim. The light breaks these vessels.

This takes place on the 17^th of Tammuz. Moses breaks the tablets and the light enters the vessel. Then some time passes until the first of Elul, a new month, followed a month later, after the new moon, by the New Year (Rosh Hashanah).

This means that Moses again ascends Mount Sinai and receives the second tablets. In other words, the light within the vessel is processed again, and it again becomes possible to rise and ask for the light of correction. When the light of correction descends upon a person, they begin to see themselves within this light.

Once again, just as the first time, Moses remains in contact with the light for 40 days, at the level of Bina. Then he descends, meaning that the light begins to pass through to all the remaining qualities, to the entire people.

The descent of the light to Malchut and their complete opposition is celebrated among us as Yom Kippur. Through the shattering of the soul, a person begins to understand that they do not have a single good quality, and that everything must be corrected. But they learn this because within every egoistic quality of the soul there are already sparks of light that fell during the breaking when the light first entered. Now a second light shines, the light of correction, akin to the second tablets.

There is a difference between the first and second tablets, just like there is a difference between the First Temple and the Second Temple. Here, another light descends, the light of correction. It no longer needs to break the vessels, enter them, and mix with them. Instead, it must shine from afar and gradually correct the vessel. It possesses different qualities.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 248

Why Is It Said That We Should Ask for the Revelation of the Creator, and That Through This the Recognition of Evil Will Come?

It is constantly said that we should ask for the revelation of the Creator, for the importance of the Creator, for the greatness of the Lord, and that from this the recognition of evil will come. But when we are immersed in evil, we cannot ask from within it for the greatness and importance of the Creator. We are incapable of doing so because we are immersed in evil. We can emerge from this evil if we look at it from the outside and recognize it as evil in relation to the Creator. The more we emerge from the evil, the more we can recognize how opposite that evil is to the Creator. How do we emerge from the evil? By bringing our “I” closer to the Creator while our body remains where it is.

We begin to see how far we are from the Creator when we rise above the body toward the Creator, from the point of the “I,” the point of awareness. It is as though a certain point emerges from within us, from our body and from this pain, a point called “the point of our awareness,” and it draws closer to the Creator. As it draws closer to the Creator, it can already observe the body and see how far it is from the Creator, according to the extent that it feels the body’s distance from Him. It cannot measure how far away the Creator is. It can only measure how far the body is from the place from which that point emerged.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Sukkot 2003, Lesson 11 (10.16.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Awakening from Below

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