Each new level we attain signifies that a person has corrected themself by rising to it, and has thereby fulfilled a commandment. Therefore, the number of levels corresponds to the number of commandments: 613 plus another 7 commandments instituted by the sages.

A person rises from degree to degree by virtue of the Exodus from Egypt; therefore, we attach the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt to many commandments, since it is the foundation that allows us to begin spiritual actions called “commandments.”

We are not speaking about the commandments known to us in the material world (simple movements of the hands, feet, or tongue), but about spiritual actions through which a person fills himself with the upper light.

In the absence of a screen (a spiritual filter that would allow the upper light to enter within us), for now we can draw it toward ourselves through the study of the books. It reaches us in the form of surrounding light that gradually purifies and corrects us. The same actions can be carried out not only through study, but also through real deeds.

On the holidays, such as Pesach (Passover), which brings us goodness, there are specific surrounding lights, and here the participation of a person in preparing the festive event is important, specifically physical participation, carried out in unison in the whole nation.

But in addition to the general participaction, we must have an intention: the desire to attain the essence of the holiday, to ascend to the level of Pesach, so that what the event known as the Exodus would actually happen to us. Depending on the correct direction of the pre‑holiday preparation and the sincerity of the intentions, a person can merit very great surrounding lights even at the stage of preparation for the celebration.

That is why we try so hard: everyone wants to take part in this work and loves it because it gives a greater spiritual result than study.

Baal HaSulam and all the Kabbalists who preceded him singled out Pesach and Sukkot from among all the holidays. Pesach corresponds to the exodus from this world into the spiritual, to entering eternity and perfection, which, in essence, everyone wants.

And Sukkot is the “cloud of His Glory,” that is, a cloud, a Sukkah, a shelter: All this is also surrounding light that comes to a person and corrects him. The principle remains unchanged; only the conditions in which a person’s soul is found change. Therefore, in our world these holidays, these spiritual states, manifest in various forms and modes of expression.

On Sukkot the surrounding light acts differently, because the soul is already on a higher level, whereas Passover is truly the exodus from our state to the light.

Therefore, every time a person takes part in lessons or in work, it is desirable not to forget that everything that happens to them, all their efforts, require an accompanying intention: one undertakes these actions in order to come out of this world into the spiritual world, to feel the upper reality. Then these efforts accumulate and bring a person the holiday of Passover.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/26, Rabash, “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover”

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When learning Torah, a person is in wholeness, according to the rule, “Where one thinks, there he is.” One should receive vitality from this time to the rest of the day, for this is called “A separate time for Torah, and a separate time for prayer” (Rabash, “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work”).

“A time for Torah” means that I study the Torah and must be in maximal equivalence with the light so that it will influence me.

The only law that exists in the world is the law of equivalence of form, and all other laws are its consequences. Thus, if I study what relates to the upper lights and want something from above to influence me, I must be as close as possible to the source in my thoughts, intentions, desires, qualities, and impressions.

In other words, while studying the Torah, on one hand, I must feel wholeness and eternity, that I lack nothing, and I am entirely in it. On the other hand, I must understand what I demand from my study. After all, I am not simply going to be like an angel.

Therefore, it is said: “A separate time for Torah,” meaning that on the one hand I connect through the Torah, and on the other hand, through the study I ask for correction, which is called prayer, “a separate time for prayer.” Both must be present in my attitude toward the upper force that I seek to receive.
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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 5 “What Does the Rule ‘Love Thy Friend as Thyself’ Give Us?” (1984) (5.19.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 5, Item 42

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“

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Question: Is truth revealed to us only in periods when the light disappears, during periods of Achoraim?

Answer: We experience two states: either light or darkness. When a person is filled with light, one cannot perceive oneself; the person is under the influence of the Creator, feels ready for anything, and feels like a hero. In this period, it is as if the person is under the dominion of nature, specifically the properties of the light. Therefore, it is not he himself, but the filling (the light) that determines his state, his degree, his qualities and thoughts.

When can a person know his true “I,” what state he is in, and on which degree? This is only in the absence of light. The fact is that the screen, when in the darkness, determines to what extent the Partzuf can be filled with the light of Hassadim, and based on this one can predict what will occur when the light comes and to what extent it will be able to fill the Partzuf.

Therefore, it is only during darkness that a person exists in a true state. This holds true during the preparation period, the time when the Kli has not yet acquired a screen (an intention for the sake of bestowal). Let’s assume I am currently in this preparation phase; it depends on my experience of past states, on efforts, on the group, on all the things that are around me, to what extent they together give me strength.

It is more correct to formulate it as follows: during the period of concealment to what extent does the surrounding light (Or Makif) hold me in a state independent of whether I am under the influence of darkness or light, in a state of ascent or descent. It is precisely the descent that I use to build my spiritual Kli, since only in a period of darkness can I show myself, make efforts, and demonstrate persistence. I am given a chance from above.

And at the time when the light influences me, I have no possibility to manifest myself, since the Creator performs His actions over me without my participation. Thus, we have two states: in the period of light the Creator influences me and in the period of darkness I influence myself.

The fact is that when the Creator influences a person, he thinks that he is a hero, that the actions are his, that he has achieved something. But it is not so; it is simply means the Creator is currently drawing closer to him. Conversely, when the Creator moves away it is similar to a mother teaching her child to walk. At first she holds the child with both hands, steadies him between her knees to prevent him from falling, and then she lets go and steps back. By withdrawing, the Creator gives a person a chance to take a step forward toward Him.

And so, time and again, the Creator teaches us to walk independently. We must come to realize that these are desirable and effective states that benefit us because they bring us closer to spirituality and that we must use them by taking a step forward, then another, and another.

But we cannot do this alone. We must build an environment: a group, books, a teacher, the support of friends, and a daily schedule. All these things support us in periods of darkness. Only with their help will we be able to take an independent step forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/26, Rabash, “Show Me Your Glory”

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All we need so we can engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is the revelation. That is, to reveal the delight and pleasure hidden in them so we will see them openly (Rabash, “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”).

If we were to reveal that bestowal contains many pleasures now, then, like a thief, we would run after this quality in order to obtain those pleasures.

On one hand, we are pushed toward bestowal by the anticipated pleasure, on the other hand, by the suffering we feel in our state. But as we advance along this path, do we see that it is about great pleasure? Is the benefit of bestowal revealed to us in our will to receive? Are we burning with the desire to bestow, which promises pleasures?

If we were in such a state, we would follow the Klipot. We would be included only in the pursuit of the pleasures of the Klipot and would never be able to come out of it.

Therefore, our path is called: “For the Torah shall come forth out of Zion,” that is, from “exits” (Yetsiot), from disappointments, from confusion, and not from pleasures. If it were from pleasures, then it would be through the Klipa, which “buys” you by giving pleasure: “Work for me.”

With us, this does not happen, and this is a sign that we are on the correct path, that the actions performed upon us from above are indeed meant to make us into those who bestow.

It is not simple, it is difficult, because in the vessels of reception, in our egoistic perception, it is impossible to discern how to do this. Our path is devoid of pleasures. We are given no payment along the way, for which it would be worthwhile to work, only an abstract idea: the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the group.

And we see this in ourselves. We do not advance by means of pleasures, so we have nothing to worry about. Only if we are truly able to perform an act of bestowal will we be able to enjoy it. Such is this “twice-sold deal.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/26, Rabash, “Concerning Hesed [Mercy]”

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This is called “the sorrow of the Shechina.” That is, it is that the Creator cannot impart the delight and pleasure as He wishes, for His desire is to do good to His creations (Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”).

Question: Why do we say “the sorrow of the Shechina” and not “the sorrow of the Creator”?

Answer: Because the revelation of the Creator with respect to the created being appears as a mirror image of the corrected Malchut. This serves as an example for Malchut of what it should be like. But of course, it is the sorrow of the Creator from the inability to bestow to the lower ones.

Rabash writes that the light is called Shochen, and the vesse the light is clothed is called Shechina. Thus, the Shechina is the perception of the Creator’s sorrow within the lower one, because the lower one feels it in its own vessels.

The Creator wishes to bestow to him. This relates not exactly to the Creator Himself, but to the Creator’s attitude toward us.

Question: But why isn’t it about the Creator’s relation to Himself?

Answer: Because this revelation takes place in Malchut, which is in a state where it can feel the sorrow of another and work with this in bestowal.

In essence, the sorrow of the Shechina is the sorrow of Malchut. It does not mean that the Creator regrets or feels sorrow; rather, Malchut reveals how great its own sorrow is, how deeply it regrets that the Creator cannot bestow to it.

Everything here is focused specifically on the vessel of the lower one, because the vessel of the lower one is ready to feel this sorrow, it has already undergone the correction of Hafetz Hesed. Otherwise, it would not be able to feel another’s sorrow.

Hafetz Hesed means that I desire nothing for myself, and therefore I am able to be filled with the desires of another.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”

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Question: You say that the group, the friends, and the books are all very important. Yet within this framework, we need to perform a thousand and one actions. Why do we constantly fail? Is it impossible to get out of these failures?

Answer: Why do you assume that by working in a group where everyone is “simmering as if in one pot,” you are constantly losing? Maybe this is the form that is supposed to be? You see that the children of Israel in Egypt are constantly experiencing defeat. When Moses goes to Pharaoh or leads the people through the desert, didn’t he experience failures? He fails all the time. But are failures bad things?

You fail and grow weaker because you reveal your ego, discover that you are zero, that you do not understand anything, and you have neither the strength nor the mind to rise to a higher level. After all, with the mind of the previous level, with the force of the previous level, you certainly cannot rise to the next level. Each time you fail, you discover your inferiority, and this is precisely what leads you to a higher level.

I think many have gone through such states where after you see that you have nothing, understand nothing, and are tired, suddenly something new is revealed to you. You begin to understand more, to connect definitions; it organizes you correctly, and there is some kind of illumination, some glimmers of light.

And all this comes through the feeling of failure, powerlessness, and disappointment because this is our path. First a person receives an empty Kli (vessel), a feeling of the lack of its fulfillment and powerlessness; only afterward does the light enter the corrected Kli.

We are not advancing in accordance with the animalistic mind that would expect greater strength each time, but rather, the process works in exactly the opposite way. This opposite way requires us to expend enormous forces, to exert a tremendous amount of intensity in everything, and when we come to powerlessness and emptiness, then we ascend to the next level.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/26, Rabash, “What Is the ‘Bread of an Evil-Eyed Man’ in the Work?”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 4 “It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing From a Bad Person (1987) (11.6.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 5, Item 35

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3rd part of the Lesson — From Exile to Redemption

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But because we were given the Torah and Mitzvot to keep during the concealment, we can keep them in utter simplicity, and say, “If my aim is to bestow, why should I mind what taste I feel?” (Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”).

We must reach a state where it does not matter to us what state we are in. The main thing is to be aware, to be in a certain feeling, that I am connected with the Creator, that I am moving toward Him. I must come to a point where this becomes more important to me than all the feelings in my sense organs

Question: So how does one “simply perform” the commandments in practice?

Answer: Precisely like this, without any cleverness. It must be clear to me in my feelings. “Simply” is not a concept that describes understanding. I am a desire to receive, not an intellect, not a computer. Therefore, I must feel the commandments within my desire.

Question: And if I am not able to?

Answer: Everyone is capable, you simply have not attained it yet.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”

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As our sages said (Avot, Chapter 4, 22), “One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than the whole of the life in the next world, and one hour of contentment in the next world is better than all the life of this world” (Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”).

There seems to be a contradiction in this phrase. So what is better? This world or the future world? What does a “beautiful hour” mean?

Beauty is Hochma, wisdom. An “hour” is defined as a connection. If I establish a connection with the Creator in our world, then my raising of MAN, my prayer, constitutes all that I have it is my bestowal to the Creator. Thus, the Kli (vessel) that I am building now is the main thing. The upper light will come and be felt only to the extent of the Kli’s equivalence. But in the future world, the reception of the light is the attainment of the holy names. This is our goal. There is nothing more beautiful than this.

Firstly, it follows that at one moment I am in the place of the created being, and at another, on the degree of the Creator. Second, we know that our world and the future world are two states of the same degree. Our world is the present state; the future world is the state that follows in the next moment.

Thus, this can be explained either as the raising of MAN and the reception of the light with the intention to bestow, or as two states: a lower and a higher degree, where the lower degree, by working and correcting itself, merits to draw the light through all the higher degrees.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/26, Rabash, “The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]”

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