The writing says, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God, for you have failed in your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity and take good, and we will pay with the fruit of our lips’” (Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”).

What does “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” mean in spiritual work? It refers to an instruction that is, in essence, the original goal that must be realized throughout the entire path, so that a person reaches his root and becomes completely realized in it: “unto the Lord your God.”

What does “unto the Lord your God” mean? It means that all of a person’s qualities come to equivalence of form with the qualities of the Creator. This is called return, repentance: “Return, O Israel.”

In Hebrew, the word “Israel” can be understood as Yashar-El,  straight to God. Therefore, one who is called “Israel” must reach a state in which he returns each of the desires that constitute his soul to the Creator, that is, he acquires a screen and works with that desire with the intention to bestow.

A person already possesses all these desires. Gradually, by acquiring a screen, the intention to bestow, he returns them to the form that belongs to the Creator.

This is what it means that he returns until he reaches “the Lord your God,” thereby acquiring the same form, the same image, the same abilities, and the same attainment that the Creator reveals to him. They become, as it were, partners existing on the same level, like Zeir Anpin and Nukva of the world of Atzilut, which are on the same level in continuous face-to-face adhesion. This is the purpose of correction.

Then, after correcting this entire soul, these receiving vessels that he possesses, a person rises into the first three Sefirot (GAR). What does this mean?

A person rises above his body, which has already been corrected, and begins to attain the Creator’s thoughts, His desires and intentions that preceded the Creator’s attitude toward him, that is, preceded his creation by the Creator. These are called the “three upper Sefirot,” and the lights revealed in the vessels of the three upper Sefirot are called the “secrets of the Torah.” On the other hand, all the lights revealed in a person’s corrected vessels are called the “flavors of the Torah.”

In spiritually, “man” (Adam) is the Partzuf MA, meaning the lower seven Sefirot (ZAT), in other words, Zeir Anpin and Nukva together. And the ones above ZAT, the three upper Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, and Binah, and the lights revealed within them are the secrets of the Torah.

The lights revealed in the seven lower Sefirot are called the flavors of the Torah.

Therefore, until a person has attained return to the Creator with his entire soul and all his might, that is, until he has corrected all his vessels and filled them with all the lights so that all the flavors are revealed, he is forbidden to touch the secrets of the Torah. They are above him; this is a higher degree.

It is written that they should be concealed rather than revealed. Only one who has “filled his belly with Talmud and laws,” meaning with the flavors of the Torah, and has risen to a higher degree, comes to study the three upper Sefirot, the secrets of the Torah, which are called the foundations of receiving, the roots of the receiver.

Therefore, while a person is undergoing corrections on the way to the end of correction, the reward for revealing the flavors of the Torah is very great. But the reward for concealing the secrets of the Torah is also very great, because a person does not fail along the way: He conceals the part whose time has not yet come and reveals the part that he is capable of correcting.

Those who have already completed the entire part of the flavors of the Torah move on to the part of the secrets of the Torah, which is referred to as “at the age of over forty.”

This occurs according to special, known laws, when a person has already acquired the entire Masach, all the qualities of Binah above his desire to receive, above Malchut, and has thereby truly corrected the entire Malchut with the intention to bestow.

Then he reaches what is called “middle age” [literally, “stable age”], meaning that he stands at his full height, having filled all his vessels with receiving in order to bestow. From “forty years” onward, he begins to rise toward the secrets of the Torah, truly meriting the Lights of the three upper Sefirot and attaining the Creator’s intentions.

Before that, the purpose of our efforts is unknown to us. We cannot understand, attain, or clarify what the Creator’s intentions toward creation are for ourselves.

In order to formulate this somehow, we say that His desire is to do good to His creations; that He created them in order to delight them; that He had a desire to reveal Himself, to dwell within the lower ones, and that He created them in order to fill them, as if to enter into them and reveal Himself within them.

Even our Kelim (vessels) understand that these answers do not satisfy us. These answers will become genuine answers only in the Lights of the three upper Sefirot. However, the very fact that we are able to ask these questions already tell us that one day we will receive the answer.

After all, all questions arise from empty Kelim, which were created by the light, the fulfillment that preceded the Kli. And, of course, this fulfillment will eventually fill the Kli. Therefore, at some stage, our questions will be filled with answers, with lights.

Thus, the instruction “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God” must be fulfilled in every person.
[360445]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 12 “What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray?” (1986) (11.3.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, “Inner Observation”

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Comment: Almost everyone who studies Kabbalah with us came from secular rather than religious backgrounds.

My Response: We should not confuse the two paths—what is incumbent upon me and what the Creator will do. I am not in control of what comes from above, but I do know what I must do from below. So from below I prefer to be Jewish. What does “Jewish” mean? In one way or another, to belong to the Jewish people in the national sense.

I am not saying that a person must look like someone from an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem, and adopt that specific attitude to the country, the army, and his responsibilities to the state. However, one still needs to live within the same framework as the people, and our people have no other framework apart from what is called “heritage.” In one form or another, this is necessary.

Suppose someone comes here who has no idea what Passover, Sukkot, or the other holidays are, who knows nothing at all. We need a little more than that. This is what I am talking about, and not about becoming ultra-Orthodox.

Question: To be “traditional”?

Answer: “Traditional,” but genuinely so. The problem with being “traditional” is that the parents are traditional, while the person himself has absolutely no understanding of it. He only does his parents a favor by coming for the holidays. And then the third generation is completely lost.

In short, a person is a “beast.” If he wants to become a human being, fine; we will help him become one. But as a “beast,” it is better for him to be in a good “herd,” in an enclosed place and under good protection. Then he will be well. You can see what happens to people when an entire generation has no boundaries. Look at what is happening.

Do you really think that through their “free development” they have achieved something? Nothing. They think they have brought about a flourishing. What flourishing? There is nothing there. They think that thanks to this they can bring something new to humanity. Nothing will come of it. What else can a person extract from his own skull? What kind of development is this? Nothing is actually happening to them. Ultimately, it leads to prostitution and drugs.

If you could only show me some other solution, but there isn’t one. According to Kabbalah, there isn’t one either. There is nothing for a person to seek in a secular way of life. Nor is there anything to seek in a religious way of life. Rather, a person simply needs to be kept within certain boundaries. You will see how entire nations maintain such boundaries. We are simply unable to do so because our desire to receive is greater.

Do you think anything goes in America? You have no idea what the system is like there. Compare Israeli and American films. American films are full of pride, ideals, and the glorification of America above everything else. Look at the extent to which they are committed to this. Their films are similar to Soviet films, except that they present it in such a form that you do not notice it.

Go to Europe. Do you think you can do whatever you want there? The moral doctrines governing everything are very strict.

With us, however, it is the worst because everyone’s desire to receive is a thousand times greater than that of some gentile abroad. Therefore, an evil arises that can no longer be contained.

In short, a person is a “beast,” and it needs protection for its own benefit. Previous generations have already become convinced of this. I am not saying anything new. In my time there was the generation of the Beatles and the hippies, and what remains of them? What did they accomplish? Nothing. People remained hippies until the age of 30 to 35, and what happened to them? Those who succeeded eventually turned to drugs, while the others suddenly discovered that they had neither a home nor a job, while the rest of the world had moved forward. The same thing is happening with those we are helping break free from drugs.

I am not saying that religious frameworks are necessarily a good thing. I am saying that people nevertheless need some kind of boundaries and some kind of structure. That is essential. After all, we have already been down that road before.
[360653]
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: Are there ascents and descents in our state during the preparation period?

Answer: In our state there are also ascents and descents. I experience moments that are good and moments that are bad. I feel connected to the Creator at times and disconnected from Him at others. Sometimes I feel a need for Him, and at other times that I was indifferent to Him. Thus, I have various internal discernments (Avhanot), and now I need to put them in order.

This is called my “self,” my world. There is the “I” that desires to enjoy, and that possesses some attitude toward the Creator, when the Creator is significant or indifferent to me, when I bestow to Him or do not bestow, when I am ready to detach from Him or to connect with Him, or perhaps not ready. And so on. A person must begin to think about this, to live by this connection and this attitude—that is all.

If the Creator seems a little more hidden, closed, and vague for you now, that is why you have the friends. Practice with them. By working with them, you will undoubtedly see very quickly whether you think about them or not, whether it is important to you to fulfill them or not. What do you think about: that it should be good for them or for you, whether the effort is worthwhile or merely a hindrance to you.

You will immediately see that you need an awareness of the greatness of the goal, without which you would simply toss all your friends into the trash bin. You will immediately begin to feel that you are not suited for such a thing, and at once you acquire an inner discernment of what you lack.

All this applies if you wish to advance along this path. If you do not want to, then at least you are aware of it. This is a very effective “laboratory experiment.”
[360623]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Question: What exactly happens during the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine?

Answer: In the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine, I determine my attitude toward the desire to receive, toward my nature. I begin to see that I am under the power of this desire, how harmful its power is to me, and what I lose because of it.

In this world I might be winning and setting myself up quite nicely with the desire to receive, but at the same time I am losing spirituality. After all, if I begin to define the spiritual as bestowal, as drawing closer to the force of bestowal, as the measure of similarity to the giver, then a different assessment of the intention for the sake of reception arises, specifically, how detrimental it is to me if I wish to attain perfection and eternity.

And then it gradually becomes clear to me that the state I actually wish to attain is completely opposite to the one in which I find myself now. I do not like this state called spirituality! I simply hate it! How can one not hate it, for in it there is only bestowal, no thoughts about oneself at all. Who else am I supposed to think about? Perhaps about those people sitting around me here studying?! Where would such a desire suddenly come from?!

As a person makes an increasingly thorough assessment within their soul, they see how unattainable this is. So what is left for them to do?

This is how a person is brought closer to the truth. For a brief moment the truth is revealed to them; then they spend several months processing it and trying to banish those thoughts, yet, despite everything, it somehow continues to work within them.  Consequently, the next time around, they handle it a bit more easily; that is, they fear it slightly less and agree with it by one percent.

In time the concept of intention for the sake of bestowal will be revealed to them again, and they will once again experience shock: “To give to such an extent?! Not to think about myself at all?!”

Again, they try with all their might to flee from this thought, to block it out with everyday activities, to hide behind the work of dissemination, the study of books, anything at all. But gradually, certain internal shifts occur and he grows accustomed to the idea by another percent. “Could this really be true? What if this turns out to be the best state for me?” Nevertheless, he interprets it as follows: “I will give everything, but it will make me feel good.”
[360583]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Question: Can we expect a mass awakening at the still level of holiness now?

Answer: On a mass scale, this is impossible neither among the secular nor among the religious. What does “mass” mean? A million people, just like that? I do not think so.

It does not depend on us, but it will happen. At each stage there will be more in quantitative terms. For example, if this year a hundred people awaken, then next year there will be a thousand.

Question: So, we cannot do anything directly?

Answer: A direct transition to the masses is impossible. In any case, it will involve individuals, but thousands will emerge from these individuals. For example, out of half a million religious people in Israel, five percent may suddenly feel the need to engage in the inner part of the Torah, making it their primary focus. That is possible.

But these 25,000 people will be acting individually. Hasidism won’t come to you looking for a new path; that simply cannot happen. It is a matter of individual work. A specific religious group may seem to you as a unified whole, but the people within it are at different levels of spiritual development.

It will come; there will be a major crisis in the coming years.
[360516]
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: What is the difference between studying Rabash’s articles and The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)?

Answer: Every lesson should be divided into two parts. The first part involves spiritual work, feelings, attuning one’s thoughts to what should be sought, and focusing on the problem, on the goal. To this end, we first read the articles Rabash wrote for his students. Then we move on to TES after having been awakened by the article and realizing what we want from life, we approach the remedy, that which can help us achieve what we desire.

Thus, the first part is the analysis of the illness, and the second is the treatment. As I immerse myself in the article, I should experience joy, sadness, gratitude, and a request—a whole range of feelings. Mainly, these will be negative sensations regarding what I do not have, what I lack, what I have not yet attained, but desire to attain. These seemingly negative feelings are the revelation of the lack, the need.

Then, once I have that need and begin the study, I seek the one who will heal my illness: “the healer of all flesh.” I want the light that reforms to come. Now I have a basis for my study and  my approach is correct: I demand correction from the study.

Indeed, my study can yield nother other than correction! All this wisdom described here is completely “external,” directed only toward some connection with the material being studied at the animate level. Internally, however, a person must demand one thing: the correcting force.
[360719]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 218

On Which Desire, Among All Our Desires, Do We First Work So That It Will Be in Order to Bestow?

We have many desires, and we do not work with all of them at once. We work on them one by one. Kabbalists say, work with the smallest desire first, so that we can be sure we will not fail. Once we have completed work on it, choose a greater desire.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 12 “What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray?” (1986) (6.4.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, “Inner Observation”

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