Question: What does it mean to engage in Torah and commandments?

Answer: Engaging in Torah and commandments (Mitzvot) with the help of the reforming light means doing everything described by Kabbalists who have attained Lishma. They advise us which actions can help us attain Lishma. For the time being, we call these actions Torah and commandments.

Lishma is the work with Masachim (screens) for the sake of bestowing upon the Creator, for the sake of His Name. Once I enter into work with Masachim, it becomes clear to me what Torah and commandments are. I already know which actions I can perform in my desire to receive that bring me closer to the Creator, that is, increase my intention to bestow. Then these actions are called commandments.

By correcting my desire to receive through the intention to bestow, I fill it with the light called Torah.

And now, while I am below the Machsom (barrier), my intention, although not yet very clear, is directed toward my desire to reach the beginning of true spiritual work, a genuine relation with the Creator, to bestow upon Him, to cross the Machsom, and acquire a Masach. I do not yet know exactly what this means, but I can somehow imagine it. Therefore, if I perform any action that the Kabbalists advise me to perform, this is called Torah and commandments.

And the actions that I perform with my body (with my feet, hands, or various objects) are the ones we must do within the framework of our corporeal world. They have nothing to do with spiritual work whatsoever. Therefore, I keep saying that they do not advance a person toward the Creator. They merely keep a person within the framework of the inanimate spiritual level (Domem de Kedusha).
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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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In order to bring a person to the final state where their Kli becomes as great as possible, meaning their aspiration toward the Creator becomes truly immense, the Creator must lead them through a wide variety of states. In each of these states, the person essentially learns the difference between the state of the Creator and the state opposite to it, or between the lights and the Kelim, between light and darkness.

After all, only by the existence of a thing and its opposite can one learn about that thing and its opposite, as well as about both of them and the relationship between them.

Can a person do this? It is the Creator who does it. A person must only feel and realize what state they are in.

The Creator influences a person both in darkness and in light, as it is said: both in exile and during the time of redemption. He enters every state and literally does everything.

“I, the Creator, dwell with them amidst their impurity. I go with them into exile in order to teach them what Galut (exile, dispersion) is. And I will bring them to redemption, drawing them out of exile by showing them how terrible it is, so that they will desire to leave it. And to the extent of their desire to free themselves from oppression and come out of exile, I will bring them out.”

Thus, everything is done by the Creator, the person only needs to determine their attitude toward it, accepting everything that exists and everything happening to them exactly as it is while also arriving at a state of gratitude for the worst state just as for the best, because through this, they connect to the goal that is more important to them.

They understand how necessary their current adverse state is for attaining the goal and that there are no other states more conducive to achieving it. They must realize this, accept it, and wish to remain in such a state, regarding it as a stage of advancement toward the goal.

However, since being in a state opposite to the Creator does not correspond to His desire, one must strive to come closer to the Creator. But the reason for doing so should not be that I feel bad now and want to feel better. We must learn to discern these differences as we gradually accumulate various states and advance toward the goal with them.

In every state, a person must first realize, “I am suffering,” and subsequently, “The Creator is suffering.” From the perspective of the goal, this state is beneficial for the person; however, from the perspective of the purpose of creation, it is unfavorable for the Creator because He has established that the goal is adhesion with Him. In other words, the degree of closeness to the Creator, the degree of advancement, is determined by the created being’s capacity to bestow.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

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I cannot directly change anything within myself. I cannot “touch” myself at all. I have no access to my will to receive.

For example our vision. Scientists traced the path from the eyeball to the optic nerve, from there to other more complex systems of the organism, and discovered along the way what we see, how we see, and how vision can be corrected.

Eventually they arrived at what is called the pleasure center. If you begin to examine this center, you will quickly discover that it is a specific structure in the brain that operates through biochemical reactions.

But behind it, beyond the reach of a scalpel, lies a part of us known as the “feeling” self; this is the spiritual Kli. There is no way to reach it. It is a desire! Everything else is merely the material garments of the desire, the means through which it operates and expresses itself. But we cannot reach the desire itself.

So what do my eyes perceive? Sparks of light clothed, let us say, in a beautiful painting. I look at a beautiful picture and enjoy it. What does this mean? There is no pleasure in the picture itself. There is a spark of light in it that corresponds precisely to my Kli. Someone else may look at the same picture with indifference, or even disgust. But it fills me with pleasure.

In other words, the spiritual spark that is clothed in the picture is perceived by me through my eyes, passes through all the systems until it is finally released at the end of the material, biological chain, and enters the source of my spiritual pleasure: the spiritual desire.

The entire path that it travels—from the picture, to the eyes, and through all the systems of the organism—is merely a channel of transmission. At the beginning there is a spark of light and at the end the will to receive. That is all! All our sense organs are merely transmission channels.

This is how we live in this world: the same lights and Kelim, only with an intermediary between them. From this we see that we have no power over the light and the Kli. They are completely separate from us and exist outside our bodies, and we can change them only by drawing the surrounding light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

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Question: Does the preparation for the upcoming congress grow according to the same levels of any development in nature: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human?

Answer: Of course, it takes place in any development, and also in the development of desires. They also go through this process of the four stages of the direct light HaVaYaH (Yod‑Hey‑Vav‑Hey), and it applies to the congress as well.

When a person begins to think about it and to prepare for it, they experience ascents and descents, sometimes wanting to go, sometimes not. If they ultimately make a firm decision to go, they arrive at the congress truly prepared.

They must understand why they are doing this, what they hope to gain from it, and where the rest of the world (work, family, and health) fits into the picture.

They must weigh all these factors and ultimately arrive at the question, “What is the meaning of my life?” This is a question that cannot be answered in any other way.

Experience should show them that all other parts of our lives depend on some unknown factor.

The wisdom of Kabbalah reveals the source of this unknown, the upper force, to us. If a person connects to it, then they gain a tool capable of correcting everything in both this world and the spiritual world.

If they fully scrutinize all of this according to the stages of HaVaYaH, they will undoubtedly come to the congress, and arrive prepared.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/10, Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book of Zohar“

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1. A person is a new Kli, called the soul, which can be formed within us through study when the illumination that comes returns one to the source. That is, it builds the sixth sense within us, the desire for the Creator with the intention of bringing Him contentment through a screen.

There is no place here for the desires of other animalistic passions, upon which a screen cannot be built, regardless of what calculations one might make regarding their use. All this does not belong to the work of the Creator.

Therefore there are two opposite forms of Torah. One Torah teaches how to exist in this world, below the Machsom. This is called the general Torah, through which the masses are taught how to live better, how to be a good Jew, that is, what is commonly called being religious. Accordingly, one is taught to govern one’s qualities, to be kind and decent, to love the created beings, to guard one’s speech, and so on.

I do not reject this in any way. Those who have not yet crossed the Machsom and who do not yet have the intention to cross it, should indeed observe this. Such is the Torah for the masses, which prepares them to pass on to the individual Torah.

The individual Torah is intended for one who wishes to develop individually, that is, for a human being (“You are called ‘man’…”) above the Machsom, one who already possesses a new Kli.

The desire for the Creator is called a new desire, a new Kli with the intention for the sake of bestowal. Within it various disturbances that are directed against the Creator are awakened, called Klipot. Then all of one’s connection and all of one’s work are directed solely toward the Creator. And whatever is directed toward the Creator is called spiritual, and is called “man” (Adam).
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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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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 27 “What Is, ‘Every Blade of Grass Has an Appointee Above, Who Strikes It and Tells It, Grow!’ in the Work?” (1990) (5.9.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 2

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When I reach the state of “I am lovesick,” it means that I have prepared my Kli (vessel) as much as I could below the Machsom (barrier). This Kli lacks only one thing: the Masach (screen). I cannot produce the Masach myself because it is a product of the light.

If I possess a great desire to receive with the intention to receive, then I am given a Masach, and I become the smallest spiritual Kli. This is because my great desire, which drew the surrounding light below the Machsom, is the Achoraim (posterior side) of the first degree above the Machsom. The Achoraim of that degree descends into this world.

There is already a certain work there with the intention to bestow, above reason, as I have described. Nevertheless, this will become clearer later.

This does not mean that we are not allowed to see more. Rather, we can see only through the Kelim that we have already corrected. It seems to us that we are capable of seeing more than we actually do. But that is not so. There is no magic or illusion here like the tricks performed by magicians. They, of course, have techniques for creating illusions. But in reality, there is no magic at all. A person sees according to their corrections.

Suppose you say that you want to move from here to another star. It seems as though you desire it. But if you truly desired it, if that desire were genuine and fully prepared, you would receive the correction for it and accomplish it. In reality, however, you are merely talking about it, you do not truly desire it. They are only words.

Therefore, we must distinguish one thing from another. Spirituality is called a desire in the heart. In accordance with that desire, a person works and truly receives, not merely imagines that they have received something. That is why we always experience a certain disappointment: there is what we imagine to be the case and there is what actually exists.

All this is because we do not understand our own heart. If we truly felt our genuine desire, there would be no disappointment. We would know exactly where we are, what truly belongs to us, what we must do, and so on.

In truth, all of our study is a process of self-discovery. When I come to know myself and begin to feel my Kli and what is within it, it is revealed to me that there is only one thing in my Kli: the Creator. Only the Creator can be revealed within the Kli.

To the extent that I do not feel my Kli, instead of the Creator, I perceive entirely different phenomena, imaginary pictures. But when I enter spirituality, then, according to the degree of my corrections, those pictures are replaced by the sensation that the Creator fills my Kli, my soul. Only then do I begin to see that this entire world is merely an illusory, imaginary world.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

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Question: We say that in reality everything is within us. But wasn’t the world created first, and we were created only afterward?

Answer: Indeed, we say that everything a person feels, he perceives through his five sense organs. These sense organs present him with a picture of the world, although in reality there is no such thing as a picture of the world in itself. We can speak about form only in relation to the one who perceives it.

There are entire articles on this subject. Rabash writes that it is impossible to speak about the attained without the one who attains. Therefore, we cannot speak about the existence of anything outside a person. And we attain the person himself as existing because we base ourselves on our own sensations.

Let us suppose that we accept this as a fact: We do not know what exists around us, and we perceive the picture of the world through the internal reaction of our sense organs. We are so incapable of distinguishing between reality and its perception that what we perceive, what appears to us, seems to us to exist in reality: “If I perceive an object as existing through my sense organs, then it truly exists.”

It is very difficult for me; I cannot step outside my body and see that outside of it this object has no form and no existence. Well, then, let us take the sages at their word.

But, on the other hand, the sages say that in spirituality, the world was created first, and only afterward man was created. It is the same in this world: first the universe was created, then the Earth began to form and cool, and only afterward did man appear upon it. So how can we speak about the existence and gradual development of external nature even before the emergence of man, who perceives this nature through his sense organs?

So when we speak about nature that existed before the emergence of man, we mean precisely how we imagine it through our sense organs. Otherwise, we would not be able to speak about it.

Everything in the world is an expression of desires, but the one who can later tell us about it according to his attainment tells us about it using our words.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

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Question: If I ask the Creator for what is good for me from His point of view, but at the same time I feel bad in my Kelim, what should I do? Should I ask for something else so that I, too, will feel good?

Answer: If a person asks the Creator to make him feel good while he is still not in adhesion with the Creator, that is, while his desires have not yet been corrected, then what he thinks is good for him is actually the opposite of what is truly good for him. So how can I simply ask for something good?

You can ask the question differently. At this moment I am in a certain state. In every moment, every second of this state, I am turned toward the Creator.

Why? My body, from the simplest cell to all the systems of the organism, the brain, desires, psychological and psychosomatic systems, hormones, and feelings, is constantly at work. The desire that sustains life exists in every cell of the body and, in general, throughout the whole body. All these desires are already directed toward the Creator even before I have “become clever” and imagine that I can control them or direct them in a certain way.

Just because I have read or heard somewhere that it would be better if I thought differently from what my body demands, does that change my body? Will my cells suddenly begin to function differently? No! Will my thoughts suddenly work differently? No. It changes nothing! Everything I read about how wonderful it would be to act “for the sake of bestowal” and so on, all of that is outside of me. I cannot control my desires!

When I read something and learn all kinds of wisdom, I am merely filling my mind with information. It does not touch my desires at all. My desires are the direct consequence of the light, which forms them. This is precisely what we study: The light, through the four phases of direct light, creates the desire, and when it enters the desire, it impels it to go through the entire process of development.

In other words, I have absolutely no ability to control my desires. The only way I can influence them is by turning to the Creator. Then, in response to my request, or His command, the Creator changes my desire. He sends a particular Light, and through its action and development it builds the desire that I seem to be asking for within me. Only through Him can I change my desires. This is why He is called the Creator (Maatzil).

It is not that He created me once and then finished His work, leaving me to govern myself. Nothing could be further from the truth! I never govern myself. Only if I can turn to Him and ask Him, only through Him can I bring about any change within myself. Only in this way! So what does it matter whether I have read something in a book or not? That, in itself, does not change me inwardly at all.

We must understand that all these things are completely artificial and external. There is nothing in them that can bring about change by itself. Their only purpose is to increase the intensity of the surrounding illumination so that, through study, dissemination, and work in the group, we attract the surrounding light, which alone brings about the changes.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

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Question: Are there fundamental differences between material and spiritual pleasures?

Answer: There is only one center of pleasure. The difference lies solely in its magnitude. And it does not matter what one derives pleasure from.

Everything enters the same center, the same sensation of pleasure, provided we are speaking about pleasure with the intention to receive.

If, however, we are speaking about pleasure with the intention to bestow, then it is also felt in this center of pleasure, yet it is experienced in connection with the Giver of the pleasure.

This is called reflected light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/26, Rabash, “The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit”

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