Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 14 “What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians? (1986) (4.12.2002)
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2nd part of the Lesson — Pesach (Passover)
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Question: What does it mean that I overcome desires?
Answer: Our desires are arranged so that in the beginning their intention is reception for oneself, which gives me only the feeling of pleasure and not the feeling of the giver of the pleasure. In order to attain the feeling of the giver, I must make a restriction on the desire, that is, become dependent not on the pleasure but on the one who gives it.
For example if I sit in front of refreshments next to the host, I must reach a state in which the connection with the host will be more important to me than the refreshments. If I succeed, this is called passing the restriction (Tzimtzum). Everything depends on my desire.
If my desire for the refreshments is not very great, then the connection with the host is important to me; but if I am very hungry, then I see only what is in front of me on the plates.
That is, my desire determines what is more important to me: the pleasures or the host. Through my efforts, by various tactics, I must depict a picture in which the host is more important than the food.
The devices, as Rabash says, are the teacher, who gives direction, the books, and the group. With the help of the group, one attains a strong aspiration, a desire, and with the help of the books, one receives the light that correct the Kelim and return one to the source.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”
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Question: If I try to convey the awareness of the importance of the goal, the Creator, to a friend ,what am I actually doing?
Answer: You come to the group and say: “Friends, you must constantly give me a sense of the greatness of the Creator.” Saying this is not difficult and costs nothing. From your ego you pressure them. They are an external force from which you can demand.
From yourself you cannot demand, but from them you can. “I want you to give me the awareness of the greatness of the Creator.” They begin to give it to you, and then you yield to their influence.
Question: But then am I again moving toward pleasure?
Answer: Yes, because the group convinces you, since you are built in such a way that you submit to the opinion of society. Naturally, you derive pleasure from joining the common opinion. It gives you confidence, a sense of belonging, but all this is still measured within vessels of reception.
And then you begin to strive after the greatness of the Creator: “It is worthwhile for me to be near Him.” But you do not see these pleasures, because if you did, you would strive for them yourself. Since you do not see them, you need the group to tell you that it is worthwhile.
Gradually, through this, you evoke the surrounding light, which indeed changes you. The action is not performed by us, but we must provide the means for it. The Creator is concealed and not needed by me, yet the group says that He is needed, and it seems to me that it is so. I do not know who He is or what He is, but somehow, I perform an action, according to which the surrounding light comes to me, and it is what performs the work.
Everything is done detached from the desire to receive, which, during these actions, feels nothing. There is no concrete benefit. If someone from the outside asks you: “What do you gain from this?”, you can answer: “Your life is no better.” Or say: “I receive pleasure from exploring reality. I have something beyond your animal level.” But do you have anything tangible? No.
This is a sign that we are advancing correctly without the interference of the desire to receive, until the surrounding light changes us. There is no other way, no other means. Therefore, each time we find ourselves in a kind of despair, we have nothing to be proud of, the end is unknown, and where that Machsom is, is unclear.
On one hand, we accumulate some experience, but on the other hand, it gives us no foundation. And all of this is necessary in order to disconnect the desire to receive from the result, which in fact does not belong to it.
And so, it continues until I become satisfied with the existence of a certain “charm of holiness,” received from the surrounding light. I cannot do otherwise; I want it. The light builds this yearning within me.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/26, Rabash, “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”
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Question: What does the Kli (vessel) between us mean?
Answer: The Kli between us is the relation of one person to another, the glue between them. If such glue exists, it is built from the intention for the sake of bestowal.
How can I “adhere” to you so that we become one Kli? My intention to bestow to you and your intention to bestow to me bring us closer and bind us together so that we become as one Kli.
This intention between all of us must be asked for from above, we must receive the light that will correct us and give it to us. Then, by uniting, we will become one Kli. It is precisely in these intentions of each one toward the other that the light will dwell because these intentions are similar to the light, not the Kelim (vessels) themselves.
The Kelim themselves exist only in order to generate intentions toward one another. This can be imagined as follows: We are all within one Kli, and each of us is Malchut. And if one, in relation to another, works with an intention for the sake of bestowal, then this relation itself becomes the Kli. It is into this that the light enters according to equivalence of form.
Thus, in our Malchut (mine and yours), we never receive the light, since they are vessels of reception. We know that reception occurs in the nine first Sefirot, which are the qualities of the Creator.
If there is a relation between us, then your desires become my first nine Sefirot, and my desires become your first nine Sefirot. In these mutual relations we build the Kli.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/11/26, Rabash, “What Are Day and Night in the Work?”
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Question: Should I constantly demand vessels (Kelim) of bestowal?
Answer: Ultimately yes: one must demand vessels of bestowal, to be similar to the Creator. A person must come to such a desire. However, one must not simply demand bestowal.
Even environmental protection groups demand altruism. We, on the other hand, must demand bestowal specifically because it is the attribute of the Creator, because vessels of bestowal are the means to be in adhesion with the Creator. The desire to receive and the desire to bestow are two angels, the right side and the left. So, what, should we just cling to the right side?
I desire to be similar to the Creator and therefore I want to acquire bestowing Kelim. Otherwise, it will be bestowal for the sake of reception. Prayer must come out thanks to the greatness of the Creator. Greatness!
Based on the fact that He is great, all the other things that will come to me will be correct. Even if at first they will be egoistic, the attitude will be correct from the attainment of greatness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/26, Rabash, “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work”
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Question: Is bestowing for the sake of receiving the most egoistic act? What is “bestowing for the sake of receiving”?
Answer: We advance from the intention “Lekabel al menat Lekabel” (to receive for the sake to receive) to “Lehashpia al menat Lekabel” (to bestow for the sake of receiving), and further to “Lehashpia al menat Lehashpia” (to bestow for the sake of bestowal), and then to “Lekabel al menat Lehashpia” (to receive for the sake of bestowal). These are the stages of advancement.
If you enjoy what you are doing, then the question is: What kind of enjoyment is this? Are you using it as energy, as “fuel” for the work (otherwise you will not be able to do anything) or is the enjoyment your ultimate goal?
Is enjoyment a means or a goal? If enjoyment is only a means, then of course you need it, otherwise you will not be able to move forward at all, since from the very beginning your entire structure needs energy, and such enjoyment is the “fuel.”
Therefore, you ask the Creator: “Grant me the possibility of performing an act of bestowal.” Yet implicit in the words “give me the possibility” is the request: “Allow me to derive pleasure from the act of bestowal in such a way that I do not do it for self-enjoyment, but only so that the enjoyment will allow me to perform this act.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/26, Rabash, “We Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 19 “Come unto Pharaoh – 1 (1985) (4.25.2002)
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2nd part of the Lesson — Pesach (Passover)
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The body of the soul includes 248 positive commandments, 365 prohibited commandments, and 7 commandments of the sages (De Rabanan, from the word “Rav,” great), which are an addition to the 613 regular commandments. Altogether, there are 620.
Until we cross the Machsom, we do not know a single commandment because we are in darkness, in concealment. We do not know what we are fulfilling, with which desire we are working, or by means of which desire we have a connection with the Creator. The Creator is revealed within desires. If He is concealed, it means the desire has not yet been clearly revealed in me.
I do something, but I do not know what I am doing. I have a point in which there are 620 desires. What can I do with them? I do not know. They appear to me as a point. Therefore, it is written that since you do not know what to do with them, in which particular desire you are now acting, then “whatever is in your power to do, do.” And whether I do it for the sake of reception or for the sake of bestowal, it is not important. Exert effort!
This continues along the whole path until we cross the Machsom. As I approach the Machsom, I begin to feel the particular desires I am in, even in the smallest form; this is still called “the growth of a person in the mother’s womb.” But certain awareness already exists.
What awareness does an embryo in the mother’s womb have? We say none at all, but it does exist! It is still a foreign body found in the body of the higher.
In exactly this measure, a person feels his existence in the world of the Creator, in the Creator Himself, within Him. We, in our present state, cannot point out even a single commandment precisely. Our commandments are our various efforts that we make in order to come to some degree of similarity to the Creator, to connection with Him, to His revelation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”
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Question: Does it make sense to perform actions without a desire, without an inner attitude? Suppose I know that right now I am not capable of desiring the Creator, but I was told that if I work in the kitchen, for example, I will attain this.
Answer: First of all, a person must act. As it is said in the “Preface to The Book of Zohar”: even commandments without intention purify the body, but on the level of Nefesh de Nefesh.
What does commandments without intention mean? It is when a person like you wants to reach the goal but does not know by which actions exactly.
It is said that even simple commandments, that is, various corrections of desires without the intention for the sake of the Creator will help if you try to come out of the inanimate (Domem) state. This state is characterized by a lack of understanding and absence of sensation as if you do not exist at all.
Question: But must a person ask himself what he is doing this for?
Answer: When you act without knowing why, you are like a small child. He looks at his father and repeats the same actions after him, without knowing why he is doing them. This is called the “monkey” instinct. In fact, this is the most correct learning when the small one wants to become similar to the great one only through actions.
“From Your actions we shall know You.” From the fact that a person performs these actions, he begins to understand the mind, the plan of the upper, why He does this. Then the lower one begins to receive this mind. Even in this world you never know the next degree in advance, its plan or how it works. You see only its external form, that is, how it acts on you.
It has other Reshimot, other intentions that you do not touch at all and about which you have no idea. Of course, you cannot act as it does because you do not have such Reshimot, screens, and forces. And nevertheless, if in your state you try to do everything as it is done there, despite the fact that you have no desire and no Reshimot, this will mean that you want to become similar to the upper.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”
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Comment: In the article “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work,” Rabash says that if a desire arises in a person to ask for oneself, it is not good. But I do not control this.
My Response: We are not speaking about your current ability to control it, but about the state you must ultimately attain. You must reach a state where your attitude during the study of the Torah is under control, rather than simply reacting impulsively like weeping if you suddenly feel pain or laughing if something strikes you as funny.
Before you come to study, you must arm yourself with everything necessary so that your study will be beneficial for correction and advancement; otherwise, it is worth nothing.
It is said that there must be a “prayer before the prayer.” It is written in the Gemara that in the past, people would sit in concentration for two hours before the evening prayer, in order to focus their intention before uttering the prayer. This refers to matters of a very exalted spiritual nature.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/26, Rabash, “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work”
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