In our work from below upward, we should not undergo a descent, for “one is raised in holiness, and not lowered.” We merely acquire an ever-higher degree, even if at times it seems to us that we are entering a worse, lower degree in our sensations.

The fact is that our sensations are in the desire to receive, in our ego, and therefore we measure, weigh, and determine that which exists in our egoism. Thus, this sensation is not directed toward the purpose of creation.

I may be rising higher in relation to the goal of creation, yet within my egoistic vessels of reception I feel that I have nothing. If I have nothing, then it seems to me that I am farther from the purpose of creation, for the goal is that I should have everything! But this “everything” is in vessels of bestowal, whereas in the vessels of reception I have nothing.

Therefore if a person analyzes his state with intellect, he can justify the Creator. However, if he is unable to justify the Creator or control his state, he evaluates it according to his sensations—sometimes it feels good, sometimes bad.

If he determines his state according to his mood, he can be regarded neither as a righteous person nor as a sinner. He should be related to as an animal, because an animal acts solely on the basis of sensations, whereas a human being acts on the basis of intellect.

What does it mean, on the basis of intellect? It is necessary that intellect controls the sensations. Of course, a person is not a machine; he has intellect and a heart. But his correction consists in the fact that evaluation on the scale of “truth–false” is more important to him than evaluation on the scale of “sweet–bitter.”
[357370]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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What is the best time in the process of spiritual work to exert effort and advance? Any time. There is no time that is not meant for this! In every state, a person has an opportunity to take a step toward the purpose of creation, toward adhesion with the Creator, toward eternity, perfection, and attainment—to bestowal. But in each state, this can be done in a different form.

There are states in which a person can do nothing but raise a prayer, yet prayer itself includes both gratitude and a request. And there are times when a person can only thank the Creator. But gratitude itself also stems from a deficiency (Hisaron), an unfulfilled desire; otherwise, to whom, for what, and about what would one be grateful?

It is impossible to turn to the Creator without two aspects being present in that appeal: a negative one and a positive one. Otherwise, there is no appeal at all! We learn that the advantage of the light is revealed from within the darkness, and that any concept can be discerned only in comparison with its opposite.

Black letters are visible against a white background, against the background of light. Thus, every Havchana (discernment or gradation in sensation) that a person feels, sees, or expresses always consists of two opposites.

Therefore, in our lives, while on the path, although we are startled each time we are flung from one state to another as if by a sling, we must nevertheless remember that within creation there is always both the nature of the created being and the nature of the Creator.

Thus, from any state I can look through the eyes of the created being or through the eyes of the Creator. Then it turns out that with respect to every phenomenon, I am seemingly capable of making different decisions. I can go above reason and decide that nothing else matters to me, or I can tell myself that I am incapable of moving from where I stand. I can justify every state, or on the contrary, I can reject it completely.

So where is the truth?

The truth is at the end.

Before we arrive at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), where all opposites unite, there is no truth. There is only the path and the states along it. Therefore we can never judge anything with absolute certainty, to do so would be childish.

We must always be aware that we are the sensing part of reality, and that everything that happens to us is necessary so that we may become wiser, feel more deeply, acquire experience, gather Reshimot (spiritual informational records), and continue onward with them.
[357553]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?”

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Question: How should one work in charity below the Machsom (barrier)?

Answer: Very simply. I want to come to a state where all my actions are in no way connected with thoughts about myself.

Rabash says that this manifests in us in relation to the group. The more a person invests in the group, the more it returns to him as the acquisition of the power of charity. There is no other form of donation in this world.

It is said that charity saves one from death. This refers to charity as a spiritual action because death is reception for the sake of reception, whereas charity is the correction for the sake of bestowal that saves one from death. In Kabbalah they do not speak of life and death in the sense that is accepted on the material level. Everything is eternal; there is nothing temporary.

What is death? Death is separation from the upper one, and charity is the correction of Bina, which connects you with the upper one. Therefore it is said that charity (Tzedaka) saves one from death. If you acquire the power of charity, you enter the spiritual, and begin to live. And if you are not giving charity every second, that is, if you have no powers of bestowal, this is called death.

If it were not written that charity (Tzedaka) saves one from death, then no one would give donations. And it is good that they would not.

I must perform actions with an intention through which I merit life. Why do I need the powers of Bina, of bestowal? Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot that a person must not simply stumble upon the power of charity, the power of bestowal. I must not bestow aimlessly.

What is the purpose of creation? That I will enjoy spiritual life. Therefore at the time when I give charity, I must think that I am passing from Bina to Keter, that I receive everything for the sake of bestowal.
[357783]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/26, Rabash, “Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah”

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Question: Does the saying, “A judge has only what his eyes can see,” mean that we cannot attribute good things to the Creator if we do not see them?

Answer: It is said: “A judge has only what his eyes can see.” This means that a person must judge the surrounding reality as he perceives it, according to the way it is received in his Kelim (vessels of perception).

If a person is developed to only 20%, then he sees the reality around him according to that degree and cannot perceive it differently. If he wishes to see it differently, he must raise himself to a 30% level of development.

But at every stage, “one who condemns does so through his own flaw.” I always see through my own eyes, through my own Kli (vessel of perception). Therefore, it is impossible to demand that a person understand things differently. Correct him, and then, as a result of that correction, he will behave differently and understand differently.

But a person cannot simply change on his own. Such a change can come only as the result of many blows, study, and influences from the outside. There is no other way. Therefore, “a judge has only what his eyes can see” means that a person perceives reality only through what his Kli is capable of perceiving.

Question: But what if a person tries to think correctly, in a positive direction, even though his eyes do not see it that way?

Answer: If his eyes do not see it, then it is not real for him, and such a state is very unstable. It does not truly belong to him, and he will not be able to take hold of it and maintain it. Only through an inner correction that a person performs within himself can he be certain that he will preserve such a perception, because it then becomes his nature.
[357599]
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 15 “What Is, ‘The Righteous Become Apparent through the Wicked,’ in the Work?” (1989) (4.17.2002)

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

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Question: It is written at the end of the Introduction to The Book of Zohar that all the troubles in the world come from those who are obligated to engage in the inner part of the Torah but instead engage in its external part. How should we relate to this?

Answer: First of all, look at yourself and see that you, too, are engaging with the external part. There is still an inner part that you have not yet attained and with which you are not yet engaged.

What benefit will I gain from looking at others and blaming them? Am I pointing a finger at someone from the Ministry of Education to the ultra-Orthodox or religious-Zionist educational systems? What will that achieve?

I can accuse anyone I want, but what good will it do? How can I act in a practical way, according to my abilities, as a part of the order, the pyramid that Baal HaSulam speaks about, so that the system functions correctly? Will blaming someone else correct either them or me? All it will give me is pride and contempt.

We have received direction from above, we have, unlike those who do not know where they are. I cannot say anything bad about them; they are like infants. But about myself I can say that if I understand something, then I am obligated to act in accordance with it one hundred percent, as much as I possibly can.
[357603]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?”

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It is written in The Zohar (VaYera, item 17), “‘And the Lord appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre.’ He asks, ‘Why in the oaks of Mamre and not elsewhere?’ (Rabash, Article 6 “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”).

If a person attains a state in which he is in Elonai Mamre, that is, he soars (Mamri), rises above the material, goes above reason, and in his thoughts only the goal remains, and he dedicates his entire life only to it, gives his whole soul to it, then he is called soaring (Mamri).

When a person grows to such a state, it is said that he is like a tree in the field—like a tree in Elonai Mamre.

Then the Creator is revealed to him, as it is said: “And the Creator appeared to him in the Oaks of Mamre.” This is the state upon attaining of which a person truly reveals spirituality.
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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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Question: Is knowledge different from sensation?

Answer: Knowledge is defined as clear attainment in the vessels of reception. Faith above reason means that I am not going to attain in my vessels of reception; that is not my goal. The goal is to attain equivalence of form, adherence to faith above reason, above the vessels of reception.

Question: Is egoism a part of the process of correction?

Answer: The ego is not a part of the process and not the process itself; it is the force by which I build my process of correction. I can remain on the level of desiring to be in the Creator’s place, to rule instead of Him, or I can come to the understanding that I must be similar to the Creator, acquire His qualities, and then rule instead of Him. But “instead of Him” does not mean “against Him.”

Question: What should be the measure of faith above reason?

Answer: The measure of faith above reason must apply to the entirety of a person’s reason. All the vessels of reception must be covered by the vessels of bestowal, by the quality of bestowal, by Bina.

Question: What does “love the Lord your God” mean?

Answer: Attaining the state of “love the Lord your God” means that I have carried out the correction of all my knowledge and all my vessels of reception to the point where I have attained complete equivalence with the Creator. That is, by faith above reason, I have acquired vessels and am now in the state of “love the Lord your God.”

Question: What is complete faith and how can one attain it?

Answer: There is faith, and there is complete faith. What does this mean? Faith is called the quality of bestowal, which a person acquires from Bina. If one attains the small state of GE (Galgalta veEnaiym, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, this means that he has acquired the force of faith. If he can add AHP to GE, to receive for the sake of bestowal, this is called complete faith, when inside the light of Hassadim there is the light of Hochma.
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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: What is almsgiving (Tzedakah) in the spiritual sense? Is it the same as in the material world?

Answer: I don’t know what charity is in the material world. Twenty times a day someone knocks on my door asking for charity. Should I give? It is unpleasant and embarrassing not to give since everyone gives.

There are various calculations. A person thinks: perhaps it is worthwhile, because I will receive satisfaction from the fact that I gave. And sometimes it is done without any such calculation, simply because I received an upbringing that obligates me to act this way, and so I give. This too is a kind of calculation: If I do not act as I was educated to act, I will feel bad. In other words, it is a habit. That is what almsgiving in the material world.

In spirituality, charity is when you are able to give something that belongs to you without any payment whatsoever. That is, if you make all the possible calculations and it is clear to you that you will receive absolutely nothing from it, will you still have the strength to give? Where would that strength come from? We know that any action performed by the desire to receive requires “fuel.” And this “fuel” makes it possible to perform the action. Such is the nature of our desire to receive.

Imagine a machine that will not budge unless you insert a token. Here we are talking about a scenario where I give it absolutely nothing, and yet it can move. This is a completely imaginary thing, impossible to realize.

Yet we are told that it can be done. And the fact that you cannot receive anything in return means that the desire that performs this action truly receives nothing; otherwise, it would not be charity, but buying and selling.

I give a beggar five shekels in charity so that I will be healthy, so that I will attain the future world, so that things will go well for me, and so that I will feel satisfaction from having made a donation today. People get onto a bus and put a shekel into a charity box so that the bus will not explode.

Is that called charity? It is simply payment to the upper force so that it will protect me, as though I were saying to the Creator: “Look, I made a donation, and now, while I am riding this bus, make sure that nothing happens.” That is a contract, not a donation.

Of course, the vessels of reception receive nothing; only the vessels of bestowal receive. In other words, I must acquire a special correction called the “desire to bestow” within which I receive a return, compensation, for having given charity. And this must serve as the “fuel,” because without it I would not be able to give charity.

That is, in reality there is no action that I can perform without receiving some form of return or reward. Only compensation that enters the desire to receive is called animalistic, material, for the sake of reception, and not spiritual.

But if I am able to give and receive compensation within the desire to bestow, then it is considered that I am performing an act for the sake of bestowal, giving charity, that is, receiving nothing in return.

Nevertheless, I do receive strength a form of strength, a return, within the desire to bestow. But the “fuel” that I receive there serves the very same purpose for which I gave the charity. This “fuel” provided me with the strength to give charity.
[357774]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/26, Rabash, “Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah”

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