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.”
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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.
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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.
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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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As a rule, we are concerned with ensuring our common desire to receive is not hurt. Therefore I always check to what extent I can use each of my qualities, and show myself in society in accordance with its most respected standards.

If the group I am in praises laziness, then I will be the biggest slacker. If pride is respected, then I will display myself as the epitome of arrogance.

I do this in relation to society, and use my qualities to gain the greatest advantage. It is not that the traits are inherently good or bad; in relation to the Creator they contain neither good nor bad.

In short, whatever lies below the Machsom (barrier) need not concern us. It is only in relation to the Creator that we should begin to worry about who and what we are, about one’s true nature.

Question: Are you talking about the qualities in their ordinary sense?

Answer: No, in the ordinary sense they are merely animalistic traits. But later, when a person crosses the Machsom, these traits cease to be animalistic and become spiritual; meaning, in relation to the Creator, they take on a completely different character.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born with Bad Qualities?”

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Question: How can I bring the awareness of the greatness of the goal to the surface so that I have fuel for the work?

Answer: By not ceasing the critical analysis of what is happening to you. This is very difficult. It requires great effort of the mind. After all, the mind can only function if it lacks something. If there is no lack in anything, if the mind sees no possibility of being filled by anything, then it does not work in this direction. And if it does not work in that direction, how can you engage it?

If you have no Hisaron (unfulfilled desire), you cannot engage the mind because it is initially capable of working on something only when you have a need for that object. This means that you need advertising—let everyone constantly say that this is important, then you will begin to search for where it lies, and you will think that you lack it.

Question: What is this critical analysis from the side? I must feel my current state, for one cannot hide from the state that we are experiencing, and at the same time look at oneself as if from the side as though it were not me. How can one go out of oneself?

Answer: You are capable of stepping outside of yourself if you enter into the Creator. There is only one of two possibilities: either the domain of man or the domain of the Creator. If a person decides that this is his domain, called “the domain of the many,” that is bad.

It is called “the domain of the many” because you have many desires, each of which pulls in its own direction. And so you are thrown toward money, honor, knowledge, toward one passion or another. This is what is called “the domain of the many.”

On the other hand, there is the possession of the One: only to fulfill His desire. The possession of the One is called the world of Atzilut. If we unconditionally and constantly remain only in the desire to fulfill the Creator, then we are in the world of Atzilut, above the Parsa. And if we do not remain only in this desire, then we are in the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya).
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 8/16/26, Rabash, Article 2, 1991 “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

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Question: Is the connection with the right line called “above knowledge” and the connection with the left line “within knowledge” or “below knowledge”?

Answer: No, you engage in both in full awareness and full command of the situation. If you find yourself in one of the lines without  exercising the appropriate control, you are not below or above, but are simply immersed in one of them, under its influence.

How can you control them? You must know from the outset why you are entering the right line. If you are unaware that you are in such a state, or even if you realize you are in it but the state dominates you, then it cannot be said that you are truly in the right line. Perhaps this can be called the Klipa of the right line. You are simply being led unconsciously through various states.

You are the one who decides whether it is the right line or the left line. You determine that, for instance, that a certain state is the right line for you, and you proceed accordingly. How do you know that now you have entered the right line? Is it written somewhere that this door is the right line and that one is the left: so just walk in? No!

You choose for yourself what is revealed to you, or what you wish to have revealed. You say: “This belongs to the right line, and what is before me belongs to the left.” It is not that they are located physically to your right or left; this is not the case at all. You categorize all desires, thoughts, and qualities as right or left yourself.

The right line exists above knowledge, above awareness, above comprehension, and above sensation since the right line is the greatness of the Creator, His desire to delight the creation, His promise that we will receive reward, and that the punishments we receive are only corrections.

I do not see all this with my eyes, nor do I perceive it with my senses. Therefore, there is something here on which I must rely. I must fill my senses as though I know this, as though they are full of the sensation of the Creator.

The sensation of the Creator gives me confidence and instills a feeling of His greatness. This is everything! I do not have this sensation, but I must fill myself with the feeling as though I already sense Him.
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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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For this reason, there is a reality where one exercises on corporeal pleasures and afterwards he can come out of the Tzimtzum and concealment to some extent, for he can already choose and say that he is receiving this delight and pleasure only because he wants to bestow (Rabash, Article 33, What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet).

Question: The article says that a person should perform “exercises” on corporeal pleasures. What does this mean?

Answer: We say that we should think about the friends, about the group, and about giving to the friends, in other words, about living through their desires, and about bringing them joy. All of this is not in order to have a pleasant time, but in order to use this as a basis for determining just how far we actually are from the desire to bestow, and how much we loathe the very idea.

It is also about observing how I might attempt to force actions ostensibly aimed at bestowal upon myself and try to live through desires that are external and alien to me. Through these exercises, a person learns and discovers how capable they are of doing this, and how much they are not. Although this still cannot be measured precisely, the person nevertheless learns in order to understand where they stand.

We are not yet talking about a person actually acquiring the ability to bestow. Without a doubt, they are incapable of starting and completing such an action on their own. They only begin it because they must try to carry it out by themselves. But when they fail despite making efforts, it is revealed to them that the Creator must be the main participant and the one who executes the action.
[360665]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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