What is meant when we speak about rest? Perhaps it is not at all like what I now understand by this word. Relative to what is it rest or not rest? I remember when I was a child and constantly ran after a ball, everyone shouted at me: “Sit down, rest a little!”

But I did not feel that to sit down and stop was rest. On the contrary, for me that was a great effort. To run after the ball was both pleasant and comfortable.

So how can one measure and decide what is rest, repose, and what is exertion and work? This is measured relative to the Kelim. If the Kli feels tension and a mismatch between the desired and the actual, that is, between what ought to be and where the Kli in fact is, this means that the Kli is not in a state of rest. For the difference that it feels pushes it toward spiritual “movement,” and this automatically means that the Kli is not in rest.

And a Kli that has come to equivalence of qualities with the goal feels no difference from it and therefore can even while “in flight,” like a child running after a ball, feel rest.

The principle of relativity speaks of this as well. It is not important at what speed you are moving, but that you are neither accelerating or decelerating. That is, there is no lack “behind” and no lack “ahead” of you, you are balanced in the state you are in. And then this is felt as rest.

How does one reach this? By means of equivalence of form (qualities) with the environment, with the light in which we exist How can one come to equivalence of qualities with the light?

Baal HaSulam says that for this there are the written and the oral Torah. By means of one of them we acquire the intention to bestow, and by means of the other we know what to do with this intention. And when we acquire the ability to perform these two actions: to receive with the intention to bestow, to fulfill the commandments (spiritual actions for the sake of bestowal), then we attain the goal.
[358703]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work?”

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Question: On one hand, it is said that one should not despair, and on the other hand, that one must necessarily come to despair. Is it necessary or not?

Answer: It is both necessary and forbidden at the same time. On the one hand, I myself am not allowed to bring myself into a state of despair. On the other hand, it is necessary to reach a state in which you are weakened from above to such an extent that you despair and feel powerless, disillusioned in your own strength, and then you are able to raise a prayer.

It is difficult to explain this in a few words. In order to describe the states that we go through before the Machsom (spiritual barrier), Rabash wrote five volumes. Our language is incapable of conveying this, and in that sense it is dead. We lack the means to express it. Only the light that fills the Kli can do this; it gives everything.

For us, this filling is divided into mental, emotional, spiritual, and so on. The true filling of the desire to receive, the net amount received from the light, is the ultimate answer. Without this, nothing will help. A person can strive to attain more and more, but there will be no attainment.

It is as though we want to achieve inner fulfillment by multiplying our external clothing’s. However, it does not happen that way. You can tell me endlessly about some delicious dish, but if I have not tasted it, have not enjoyed it, or have not filled myself with it, all the descriptions are worthless.

Later, I can tell someone else about it using your descriptions, and he will pass it on further, and so on. This is precisely what we do in our world. But what is all of that worth?
[358503]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/29/26, Rabash, “One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future”

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We are completely deaf to the lessons of history. This is because a person does not learn from past states unless they connect them to the Creator.

Eighty years ago, European Jewry went through the Holocaust.

Look at the state Germany reached; it was the strongest, most developed, and most progressive nation of its time! Why? Because it had surpassed the other nations in its development and on a subconscious level felt that the Jews were the cause of all the world’s suffering.

This is how the general law of reality operates, and they perceived reality in accordance with that law. Now the entire world is rising to a stage of development similar to the one Germany reached at that time. On a subconscious level, the whole world feels what the Germans of prewar Germany felt. The heads of state of France, the United Kingdom, and others no longer conceal, they openly express their hostility toward Israel.

Baal HaSulam writes that all the nations of the world perceive Israel as a foreign body that has no right to exist, that there is no place for it in reality. This is a very natural feeling. After all, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) is within AHP in order to correct it. If the people of Israel do not fulfill their mission, then there is no need for them.

We must descend one level, then we will see the cause and discover the solution to the problem. But if you remain on the surface level of reality, you see no solution at all because you do not even know the source of the situation. I have cited a global example, but we must approach every situation in exactly the same way.

This is what is required of us in every situation: descend a little lower and penetrate a little deeper into it, but only a little. And in that “little,” we must reveal the Creator who sends us all these states. As soon as you find the Creator within a given state, you must immediately turn to Him, instantly establish contact with Him, and then you complete the correction of that particular state, which becomes another completed stage on your path.

But if you delve into that state more deeply than necessary, you simply take on unnecessary work, and waste your strength. All you need is the connection between the state you are experiencing, and the cause of that state—the Creator.
[358280]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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Question: According to the order of the work from below up, it follows that the reflected light must come first. In other words, faith must come first, and then the direct light clothes in it?

Answer: We do not feel the pressure from the Creator, who desires to clothe in us, in our desire, because our desire is not corrected. To the extent that you have a screen with the intention to bestow, you will feel the pressure of the upper light, which desires to clothe in the corrected desire called the soul.

Then the question arises: when the light comes and strikes the screen, where are the light of faith, the reflected light, and everything else? They are all present before this, in a state of darkness. The screen is built during the darkness. And when you acquire it, you receive the power to maintain the restriction and the power of faith. This is what is called the screen.

The magnitude of the screen indicates the degree of faith. It is necessary to “stock up, arm oneself, with this in advance.

Naturally, this is done by the light, but the demand for this light to come develops only through efforts from below, which are made by means of the impression received from the books and those who wrote them, as well as from the group, and not from above. Here, an effort made by the person himself is required, so that the Kli precedes the light.
[358461]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/29/26, Rabash, “One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 171

What Is the Grace of Kedusha?

The grace of Kedusha, as its name suggests, is simply a “grace of Kedusha.” It is a kind of attraction to something pleasant and good. It is not a desire because there is no deficiency in the grace of Kedusha. The feeling is more like, “This is nice for me.” There is no natural necessity in it, but instead an attraction, a sense of “I like this,” “There is beauty in it.”

“Grace” is the precise word. It is remarkable how the Kabbalists gave an exact name to every phenomenon. They felt it down to its roots and then dressed it into the accurate word.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 41 “What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?” (1991)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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In our world there are people who engage only in external actions. No illumination from above reaches them, and they do not perform any inner actions. So, what is the difference between those who engage in inner actions and those who engage in external actions? The difference is very simple; it is their correspondence to Abraham.

Question: But where can you find a point of connection between our external and inner actions so that there is some logic to it?

Answer: If you perform actions with your body without any connection to spiritual corrections, like a good Jew who does what he was taught, then you establish correspondence on your own level: Domem deKedusha (the still level of holiness). You perform corrections, but since it is the still level of Kedusha, it does not give you the opportunity to grow. Nevertheless, they are corrections.

The light came from above, clothed in matter, and within this matter the spiritual replicated. Thus, in this world there are still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels, and on the speaking level there are people who are descendants of Abraham or Gerim (converts), whom we will discuss later.

Those who are on the still level possess sparks of Abraham that they do not develop; for example, the illumination from above that awakens one to spirituality has not yet come to them, and so, they perform correction on the still level of holiness.

It is still a correction; you cannot deny it. But neither can you live by it, that is, you cannot add anything to it, because the still level is characterized by the absence of spiritual life.

If you desire something more, then you must begin to add your own effort: take deficiencies as though from outside yourself, add your own contribution through the single point of free choice available to you, and thereby evoke an additional illumination from above, or absorb more of the illumination that comes to you. Then you begin to carry out the spiritual commandments, to work for the Creator.

You must distinguish between these two aspects, because Kabbalah is, in essence, work for the Creator. Otherwise, you observe the commandments simply as a person who was taught to do so. One does not contradict the other; both approaches are necessary.

However, to one who exists on the still level of holiness, it appears that you are negating that level, because for him only the first aspect matters; if something else is deemed important, then the first loses its significance.

We observe that those who truly begin to study the inner part begin to neglect the external part—to the point that a person who meticulously observed all the commandments, upon beginning the study of Kabbalah, suddenly forgets that he has anything at all that he must do. He still does certain things out of habit, but his thoughts are floating in the clouds, above. We see how much the material action becomes weakened—in work, in the family, in everything. A person who is completely attached to spirituality greatly neglects the material.

Those who say that one who studies Kabbalah does not observe the commandments in practice with the meticulousness required in this world, are seemingly right. We ourselves see that this is so; let us not hide what, in the end, actually happens.

It is necessary to clarify the reasons for this phenomenon: either, God forbid, we are studying something incorrect; or we are mistaken and are not studying as we should; or this is natural and perhaps it will later return in another form, on another degree, in another existence—together, both in the spiritual and in the material.
[358689]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Question: During an ascent, the inner light clothes in a person. During a descent, there is no inner light. Is surrounding light present in the external Kli instead?

Answer: The question is, in which Kli does the light clothe itself? If we are speaking about the preparation period, we have a person who has a desire to receive for their own sake, and who must gradually analyze, attain, and distinguish various layers, nuances, and shades within it. Among all their desires, is there one in which the light can clothe?

Question: I have a desire to receive that has no screen, and from above, through the Machsom, the surrounding light shines upon me. When I acquire a screen, this light will clothe within me, and then should all my work be on the screen, so that the reflected light will clothe in me?

Answer: That is not the case. Naturally, I think about wanting  to attain Him, and I yearn for Him, but the correction does not take place according to this. Of course, I aspire to the light so that it will fill me; however, the correction takes place when this light is absent, when it departs. Do I fill myself, in its place, with the light of faith?

The light of faith shines not simply from the surrounding light, but from the fact that my attitude toward the Creator is related not to how much I receive from Him, but to what my attitude toward Him is, to the measure in which I aspire to Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/29/26, Rabash, “One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future”

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“And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’ And he said, ‘I seek my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are feeding the flock?’

A man “wandering in the field” refers to a place from which the crop of the field to sustain the world should spring (Rabash, “Love of Friends – 1“).

The Torah is the teaching, the method, that explains the entire process we must go through, from here until the end of correction. So where do we begin building the spiritual vessel and entering the spiritual world?

Here it speaks about Joseph, who gathers (Osef) all the previous qualities of his brothers, and through this discovers that he is in Egypt, that is, within the evil inclination.

I feel that I am opposite to the spiritual world and unworthy of it. Moreover, I have no desire whatsoever to enter it, this is what my inner qualities “tell” me. This realization must come. But on the other hand, we already know that if we break down the barriers between us and unite, then within our unity we will immediately begin to feel the spiritual world.

Thus, the Torah explains to us the process of developing our common vessel, which at this stage is called Joseph. He is “wandering in the field,” not knowing how to reach spirituality. Before him lies an empty expanse, and he does not know which way to go.

And the works of the field are plowing, sowing, and reaping. It is said about that: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” and this is called “a field which the Lord has blessed.”

A person must be ready for the plowing, the sowing, and the reaping, that is, for working with his desire. For desire (Ratzon) is the land (Eretz), or that very field, which must be plowed and sown with the seeds of bestowal, Bina, so that Bina may enter Malchut. There it begins to grow by means of Malchut’s desire, producing sprouts, the harvest that we will later reap.

Thus, the person called Israel, one who is directed straight to the Creator, enters Egypt and discovers a great egoistic desire within himself. It is precisely then, when he sees that this desire rules over him, that he exerts himself toward unity and, through prayer and a cry for help, escapes from Pharaoh.

Why is this descent into egoism necessary? It is o that we may come out of it. Just as we place seeds into the earth so that, through the earth, they may sprout and blossom. It is thanks to the earth, meaning the egoistic desire, that the tiny seed of bestowal, the altruistic desire, begins to grow. It emerges precisely from the earth.

When the spark of bestowal, the point in the heart, awakens within us, it brings us to the wisdom of Kabbalah. We begin to study, we join a group, and suddenly discover how bad everything is, how many obstacles arise along the way. The evil grows stronger and stronger until we are completely submerged in it. Then, with our last ounce of strength, we struggle to overcome it and escape. And we flee, taking with us the great desire to receive that we acquired in Egypt.

This is how the seed of bestowal sprouts: We rise above the earth, taking the corrupted desires with us, and then begin to correct them.

This process is accompanied by joy and sorrow, by the hardening of the heart, failures, and difficulties. Yet it is precisely through despair that we draw near to the exodus. And that exodus is found in unity. No one comes out alone, only together.
[71452]
From the International Kabbalah Congress 2/24/12, “Arava,” Lesson 3

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