Question: We perform various actions in order to fulfill our desires. How should we relate to these desires?

Answer: We do not focus on the desires themselves; rather, we seek the source of the desires because that is where our correction lies. One who remains within one’s desires remains within their animal nature. One will never find fulfillment, peace, or correction in that state; there is no way out of it. There is nothing within the desire itself; it is empty.

If you want to fulfill a desire, you must turn to its source and not remain immersed in the desire. “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.” This is what those do who constantly look inward at their desires. The Creator gives us a sense of emptiness within our desires that leads us to ask: “What is the source of pleasure? Where is fulfillment?”

Accordingly, we should strive toward fulfillment by thinking about Him, not about our emptiness. We should not suppress our desires, dwell on them, or remain attached to them. Rather, we should rise above them and establish a connection with the source from which they can be fulfilled.

I cling to the upper one. By doing so, I do not detach myself from reality or from the desire to receive; I simply understand that the answer is not found within reality itself. This is a very logical, precise, and scientific method. It is not without reason that it is said that the wisdom of Kabbalah encompasses all sciences; those are not empty words.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Question: The dialogue I conduct with myself, trying to understand why I suffer, takes place within my ordinary Kelim. Can I really investigate the source of suffering within them?

Answer: Your dialogue with yourself does indeed take place within ordinary Kelim (vessels). However, because you are working according to the system described by people who have already corrected themselves and attained the state of Gmar Tikun (final correction), you receive from them a force called Ohr Makif (surrounding light).

Naturally, without help from above, you would continue revolving around the same questions with your own intellect and desires and never rise above them. All your investigations would remain on the same plane, as happens with philosophers.

What is the difference between us and them? They use the intellect, but they do not draw the surrounding light upon themselves.

If you study the correct books, the authentic sources, with the intention of attracting the surrounding light, then you begin to utilize a force, a height, that exists above your nature. This is the difference.

If, in your investigations, you rely solely on your own intellect, as philosophers do, then you remain on the same plane. In such a case, there is no correction through the surrounding light. You simply become more intelligent within the framework of this world. But this does not give you the ability to free yourself from suffering or to attain its source.

All that you possess are conclusions reached through reasoning. This is called philosophy; one does not draw the upper force in order to be corrected by it. Drawing the upper force not to dwell with suffering or to fill it, but to attain its source is the work of a human being.

Comment: But a person must know what to ask for.

My Response: There are many subtleties here. When the surrounding light begins to influence us, our request changes. We stop asking for fulfillment and begin asking for correction. We begin to desire to become similar to the light itself, initially without understanding what is happening to us and later with awareness.

The first phase (Behina Aleph) of the four phases of direct light desires to receive and enjoy the light. Yet after some time, it suddenly begins to desire to bestow, just as the light bestows. This is the result of the influence of the upper light upon us.

Without this wondrous property, we would never be able to attain anything.

The difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and philosophy (as well as all other methods) is that Kabbalah utilizes the surrounding light. From my corrected state, I draw this force, this light, into my present state, because I want to be corrected, because I want to be there.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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During our studies we also have to include the current situation around us in our prayer. We want equivalence of form with the Creator and for the upper force to come and correct us and to make the necessary transformation within us.

I need this transformation not for myself and not even to bestow contentment to the Creator from myself, which is also egoistic, in a slightly different way, but it is still egoistic.

I want that all creations would come to such a level of consciousness where they would understand the goal and would grow closer to Him. Why should the desire be like this? This is the result of caring for the whole world, for all of reality.

A person who includes not only the group, but all of humanity, finds within oneself and activates additional forces of one’s soul for this request. After all, each of us contains all the forces that exist in the world; therefore, the more we expand our request, the more powerfully we activate our soul toward the Creator.

We must consider why it is necessary to do that. This is because we have received the privilege to advance, to ask and demand the Creator to help us fulfill what is entrusted upon us: to be a light unto the nations of the world and to bring the idea of the purpose of creation and how to reach it, to our people and to the whole world. A person has to feel that the blame for the world still not being corrected lies with them. Therefore they must ask for correction.

During the Lebanon War, in the early 80s, Rabash and I went for a walk in park as we usually did. He would listen to the radio every five minutes. At that time, people in Bnei-Brak did not listen to the radio. I was surprised. After all, nobody is interested in this! To which he replied: “They are not interested because they do not feel that their own children are there now.” Rabash felt it!

Therefore we have to understand, even if just intellectually for now, as Baal HaSulam writes at the end of the Introduction to The Book of Zohar, that if something bad is happening with us, with our people, it is happening because those who have received the information from above about how to correct the world and how to draw the whole humanity to the Creator, they are still not realizing this; are not doing their work in its fullness.

Thus, we have what to pray for and a reason to ask for strength in addition to what we usually ask and demand. We have to sense that we are responsible for what is happening.

Therefore, when we try to formulate our request from myself though the group to the Creator, we have to include these things in it as well. They are now coming at us directly, and it is not by accident that we see and feel our life precisely this way. We are obliged to react to this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 30 “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends” (1988) (3.28.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (4.19.2001)

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 155

If “There Is None Else Besides Him” and Everything Comes from Above, Where Are a Person’s Own Powers?

A person’s powers are found in the structure of their soul.

In what way is one person different from another? Both possess the same qualities, but in each individual they exist in different measures and interconnections with other qualities. Every person has a unique structure of animate qualities of this world that we call character; where one is spendthrift, another hot-tempered, another fearful, another kindhearted, and so on. The difference between people is in the degree to which they use these qualities to attain the goal. This determines their level. That is, the coarseness (Aviut) of the screen (Masach).

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When the Creator said to Abraham to circumcise himself, Abraham consulted with his friends (Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”).

“Circumcision” in spiritual work means that a person no longer uses his desire to receive, and if he does use it, it is only for the sake of bestowal.

The circumcision of the foreskin (Orlah) signifies that a person passes from being a gentile (Goy) to becoming a Jew (Yehudi), one who works in unity with the Creator (beYechud). In other words, everything he does from that state onward will be solely for equivalence of form with Him.

Although this is performed from above by Aba ve Ima (father and mother), and is carried out upon a small person, from this state of Katnut (smallness) onward, as he grows into each greater state, he will develop as a Yehudi.

Question: But Abraham circumcised himself. Does that mean that everyone must perform the spiritual circumcision on themselves?

Answer: Abraham’s case is different because he was a patriarch, a soul of the highest order. As for the other souls, indeed, there were other such cases described in the Tanakh, where people circumcised themselves at a very advanced age, but this still requires further study.

After circumcision, a person no longer faces the same disturbances that existed before. Then an entirely different kind of work begins in which he uses his transgressions (both the intentional and unintentional mistakes) that he committed in the past. He uses what belonged to the past, but now those transgressions are no longer present in him.

Question: Then what was Abraham regretting?

Answer: The point is that it seems impossible to unite good and evil together. At any given moment, you are in one or the other, either in the bad or in the good. I say “it seems impossible” because later it actually becomes possible. But at this stage, you cannot yet connect the coarsest animalistic desire with the highest intention.

For example, while you are enjoying delicious food, try to begin thinking about spirituality. Or while you are completely absorbed in receiving an animalistic pleasure, suddenly begin thinking about the Creator. One seems to extinguish the other.

This is exactly what happens: a bitter regret arises from the fact that it is not yet possible to unite these two extremes. But later, they do indeed become united.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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The state in which a person acquires the ability to go by faith above reason is called Rosh HaShanah (New Year). This means that he reaches the peak of all his states and reveals the Creator’s name, Tzvaot (Lord of Hosts). That is, a person has gone through all the states of ascents and descents, called “Tze” and “Bo,” which together form the name Tzvaot (plural of Tzava [Hebrew], “host” or “army”).

When a person goes through these states, he becomes like a soldier: from “Tze” (a descent), he enters the state of “Bo” (an ascent). In this way, he builds an army (Tzava) within himself by overcoming disturbances through faith above reason.

These disturbances are called the Mount Esau. A mountain (Har) comes from the word “Hirurim” (thoughts, reflections), which arise according to the root of the soul and its structure. When a person overcomes these disturbances through faith above reason, he passes from Mount Esau to Mount Zion. This means that from descents he passes to ascents.

Through working with thoughts above reason, a person acquires the force of Bina. Therefore, he is called Israel (Yashar-El), straight to the Creator, because he receives this directness of intention in striving toward the Creator from Bina. Then, from the revelation of the Creator’s general governance (the king of the whole world), a person comes to the Creator’s personal governance (the king of Israel).

The king of the whole world he attains consciously, through the Creator’s actions that he sees. But the king of Israel he attains through the work of faith above reason. It is revealed to him that all the states he has gone through were given by the Creator. Then, from Mount Zion, he ascends to Jerusalem, from the Malchut of Zion to the Malchut of Jerusalem.

The completion of this state, in which he reveals that the Creator is the king of the entire earth, that is, of all his desires, both past and present, and verifies within all his desires that he is adhered to the Creator, is called Rosh Hashanah. Rosh (head) is the highest state among all those he has passed through within the desires of the soul.

This is the meaning of the holiday of Rosh HaShanah. On the one hand, it can be said that it is the beginning of something new, the beginning of an ascent, a state that stands above all corrections. On the other hand, it is the summary of what a person has gone through during the year, the result of correcting all the desires of the soul. When a person reaches such a state, it means that he has attained Rosh HaShanah.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Comment: When a person who is thirsty finally receives water, he drinks and experiences pleasure without feeling any connection to the Creator. At that moment he has a great Aviut (coarseness of desire) because his enjoyment is so great.

My Response: You are speaking about an animal that is thirsty, and enjoys drinking when it receives water. This is not the subject of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about intentions, not about receiving something in an animalistic way, without intention. Kabbalah explains how one works above the Machsom (spiritual barrier). What exists below the Machsom is called “nature,” and there is no need to discuss it. Leave that to psychologists. What concern is it of ours how the animal exists? It exists entirely under the dominion of nature, and there is no benefit in that for it, nor any possibility of change. And if at this moment I have no ability to change my nature, why should I occupy myself with it?

It is better not to dwell on my present nature in this world—how I am built, how my cells function, how my liver, brain, and other organs work—because I am unable to change these things. It is a waste of time. It is better to study how I can change myself, elevate myself, and bring myself to true fulfillment. That is far more worthwhile.

There are already eight billion people occupied with this life, who think that they can change something within it. If I am not like them, nothing terrible will happen.

This is what people spend their lives doing, believing that they can change something, until they are eventually buried. Why devote oneself to that? The real challenge is to stop and determine what can truly produce a result, what is useless, what is worth engaging in, and what is not.

There is no benefit in endlessly analyzing your present nature because you will only consume yourself with questions such as: “Why am I like this? Why is the world like this?” And then what? You will blame the Creator, and remain exactly as you are, except that now you will also have a headache, an ulcer, and other troubles.

In Kabbalistic terms, the focus should not be on what is governed entirely by nature, but on the one point where freedom exists: the possibility of acquiring an intention above the desire to receive. That is the place where spiritual work begins.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/26, Rabash, “Why Is the Torah Called ‘Middle Line’ in the Work? – 1”

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Question: What does it mean to draw closer to the Creator?

Answer: Drawing closer to the Creator means becoming included in an endless chain of caring for one another. We must feel that caring for one another is eternal.

Question: Is it eternal, or does it lead to eternity?

Answer: It leads to the sensation of eternity.

Question: So, when we are told, “You can live forever and feel eternity,” we become skeptical and say, “Well, that is fantasy.” Is that because we spend our lives caring only about ourselves?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And if we were able to direct ourselves toward someone else, then it would no longer seem like science fiction to us?

Answer: We will begin to sense that eternity. It is as though you transfer yourself into others, and in that you will feel infinity.

Question: Is the purpose of life contained in this? Is this precisely what it is?

Answer: Yes. Then, through your feelings, you draw closer to the Creator, time disappears, and leaves only sensation.

Question: But what is the Creator like? When I say, “Draw closer to the Creator,” what is it that I actually want?

Answer: To care absolutely for others. For another.

Question: Just like that, without thinking about myself?

Answer: If I am able to forget about myself and think about another, then I enter eternity.

Question: There is not even a tiny thought, a hidden calculation: “What will I get in return?” That doesn’t exist?

Answer: But that is precisely what you will receive. You will begin to feel eternity itself within your attitude toward another.

Question: So, to sum it all up, the main goal is to draw closer to the Creator, and everything around us is given precisely so that we can draw closer to the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Even wars, suffering, tragedies, and illnesses?

Answer: Without them, we would not be able to feel any of this. They too are necessary. The evil inclination was created specifically so that we would feel ourselves rising above it.

Question: Our task is to rise above all of it?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: I see. Thank you. You have shed light on that as well. For people, these things mean such pain, such suffering, and yet you say, “This too serves that purpose.”

My Response: It is necessary.

Question: And is there no way without it? Is it impossible to pass through life smoothly and effortlessly?

Answer: No. A person is incapable of it. One must pass through malice, through the evil inclination; otherwise, one will not feel the good.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/13/26

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