Question: Why does the Kli (vessel) shift from bestowal for the sake of receiving to receiving for the sake of bestowal?
Answer: The Kli moves from the simplest animalistic form of receiving for the sake of receiving to bestowal for the sake of receiving because it understands that there is greater benefit in this, both from the side of the Kelim and from the side of the lights.
Regarding the Kelim of bestowal for the sake of receiving, I can receive an impression from the desire that is in my neighbor and want something that I did not want before, which means that I have the possibility of receiving additional pleasures that I did not have before.
I look at an advertisement, become excited, and want it too. “I want it too” means that I have some possibility of receiving additional pleasure. In essence, “bestowal for the sake of receiving” constantly pushes a person toward development.
Envy, lust, and the craving for honor that a person feels toward his neighbor build greater Kelim in him. This Kli grows until he begins to realize that it brings him trouble rather than fulfillment. And then he comes to understand that he can never fulfill himself.
This manifests itself so strongly in him that he comes to the conclusion that it is better not to increase the Kelim. He even begins to look for ways to reduce his Kelim: It is better to live somewhere far from the whole world, or to go to India, learn a method of a peaceful life, or somehow limit himself. If he is unable to do so; there is alcohol and drugs.
Bestowal for the sake of receiving, that is, acquiring a desire from someone external, from someone outside me, brings a person to such a state. And when, due to having no choice, he comes to Kabbalah, here he gradually begins to study how to move from bestowal for the sake of receiving to bestowal for the sake of bestowal, which is already spirituality and is called “for Her sake.”
A person begins to understand that there is another means by which he can advance, that spiritual pleasures are genuine and far greater. He intensifies his yearning for them by seeing the same yearning in others: “The Creator is great, I will gain dominion over all, I will be greater than everyone. I want it!”
In doing so, he seemingly draws spiritual Kelim (vessels) toward himself, increases them, as though he enters the shell (this is known as deriving nourishment from the Klipot [shells] during the small state), but at the same time he uses the light that increases his Kli, which builds him in another way, granting him the awareness of what the property of spirituality is.
And then a person suddenly begins to feel that in spirituality, which he previously thought consisted of enormous pleasures, there are no pleasures at all. This is because his Kli has changed.
If he studied Kabbalah as it is taught in other places, he would receive pleasure, because then he would not awaken the light that reforms. He would think that spirituality is ever greater receiving, studying various meditations, gematria, how Kabbalah helps in material life, and so on.
He would never have a descent, because he would receive only pleasures from his imaginary spirituality, whereas the light that reforms brings a person awareness of his state, awareness of evil. Therefore, Baal Shem Tov, who founded Hasidism, defined it in a very clear form: “The opinion of Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses.”
Those who are capable of advancing by way of truth have the light that reforms. And those who are not yet able to attain the truth, let them have Hasidism, at least a small illumination that gives them the awareness that there is something beyond this life, in order somehow to sweeten their existence.
This is precisely what all the existing methods provide. They illuminate them a little, and thank God, they feel good. They do not yet need correction; let them remain there. They cannot be among those who are already capable of performing real corrections, real operations, on themselves.
These are states of descents, disappointments, sudden darkness, when a person first yearns for spirituality and suddenly receives a blow. He is confused because he never imagined that such a thing could happen. Whoever has gone through this knows. This is the sensation of an empty Kli of intention: not of desire, but of intention. It is already a sensation of lack of the intention for the sake of bestowal.
Then the person begins to work in two forms. But one who does not use the Torah as an instruction, as light, does not feel the influence of the light that reforms, which reveals to him a lack in the Kli of bestowal, in the intention to bestow. Such a desire is never awakened in him, and he never has descents.
This is described as “going and adding.” He is filled with enthusiasm and feels good. He looks at us: “What state are you in!” and is proud of himself. He has justification for all his actions, and he is already, as if, beyond the barrier in the upper world, in the world of Atzilut, and even in the world of infinity.
He truly feels some kind of soaring, because he has no analysis of truth versus falsehood, but only sweet versus bitter, and therefore he feels some illumination from above that supports him. This is called “the opinion of Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses,” “he who increases knowledge increases sorrow,” and so on. That is, such people are completely lacking the left line.
I remember that I came to Rabash in February, and on the holiday of Shavuot he was hospitalized with an ear inflammation. Before that, I drove him to various doctors, and once, when we returned from another doctor, he gave me a notebook containing the Shamati articles. His students, who had been with him for 50 years, had never seen these articles. I made a copy of them and brought it to the synagogue.
Rabash’s students saw it and were astonished; where had this come from? At that very moment Rabash entered. He became very angry with me, took the notebook away, pretended not to know where I had gotten it from (several hours later I received it back), and left very displeased. And when I asked him what the matter was, he said that they were not allowed to know about the left line.
And among them there were people older than Rabash; they had studied with Baal HaSulam and remembered him. But because they lacked preparation for correction in their properties, Rabash did not give them the Shamati articles. He said that they still were not allowed to read them. Still! At that time, I was 30 years old, and they were over 70. And this corresponded to their inner preparation, because they still did not have a sufficient analysis of truth versus falsehood.
Question: Is our preparation to move from descents and ascents to a state of adhesion?
Answer: A person who comes to us and remains is constantly in exaltation. But after some time, he receives a negative feeling from us, even if he himself has no inner need for it. He begins to feel the left line, feels that here there is an atmosphere of an unfulfilled desire, and therefore, if he is of the same kind, he continues to study, and if not, then in order to remain with us, he must in some way isolate himself from us.
Such people find a niche for themselves that allows them to be among us and at the same time not be with us. They succeed in this. But all the others, those who do not have the left line within them, simply leave due to the lack of equivalence of form.
And this is good; a person continues with at least something that he received from us and grows while being outside. Someday he will come to the point where he begins to correct himself, to add an intention to his actions that can be obtained only through descents, through the left line.
The Ari wrote that a person who does not have the left line can acquire it through study, and if he wishes, through entering a group. But I have doubts about this, and Rabash also said that he himself had never seen such a thing.
In any case, we must be prepared for the fact that through our efforts we will spread our method throughout the world. But each time we gather the harvest of our efforts, it will be very meager. Not many will join us. But we will contribute to the general correction: a great, broad, and relatively slow one. The main thing is to set the wheel in motion.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,’ in the Work?”
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