People ask why the light that corrects us and returns us to the source comes specifically during the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah and not during simple material observance of the commandments.
In fact, even in the material observance of the commandments, if one performs them with the intention to draw the light, there is light. After all, there is a connection between these actions, like a branch and root. And even those who have no intention to draw the light nevertheless receive a small illumination.
But the light that returns to the source, which has the power to change me, must come from the level with which it is connected. Suppose I study some topic in a book that is being explained to me by a Kabbalist who is now on the corresponding degree, for example in GAR of the world of Atzilut, and from there he explains in what form I can connect with him.
When I open The Study of the Ten Sefirot, I encounter Baal HaSulam as if he were alive because in the spiritual there is no death and no time. When reading The Study of the Ten Sefirot, I hear it as if Baal HaSulam is sitting next to me and speaking to me. Everything depends only on my connection with him. In spirituality everything exists; we only need to establish a connection with it.
Right now he is on the level of GAR of the world of Atzilut, and explains this passage of the text to me. The question is: How can I connect with him, and what do I want to receive from this? That is why this is called the “blessing of the Torah,” meaning what I want to receive as a result of the study. The Torah must bring me a blessing, meaning the correction of the Kelim, the ability to bestow, the quality of Bina.
And if I perform some material commandment, it too is a branch of a spiritual root. But who performs this action in the spiritual? How can I connect with him? This is like a non-living branch and root.
In Kabbalah I am addressed by someone who has attained and lives within his Kli, a person who reached this degree through his efforts, who built this Kli, who made a revelation, and who passes it on to me. But in material commandments, the connection is between the inanimate branch and root, from the world of Atzilut into my world, just through all the worlds. But the worlds are not people, not souls; the connection there is completely different.
I do not deny the branch-and-root connection in material commandments; it truly exists. But you are not connecting with someone who has attained it for you and is now transmitting it to you. It is a different connection; it is connecting through the inanimate or through the souls.
One can connect with spirituality through any phenomenon in this world since everything that exists here comes from there. But the most effective way is the study of the works of a Kabbalist because that soul has attained the Creator and prepared itself to transmit its attainment to me.
There are worlds and there are souls, and the souls are the inner part, the only living part of the entire reality. The worlds are the external frameworks, an inanimate system. And when I connect with a soul that has attained something and transmits that attainment to me, I want to be like him. I contact him as if he were alive. We have no other means of advancement except to connect with the souls that are above us, that have attained this.
There were even cases when a person had no Kabbalist teacher but still connected with the souls of Kabbalists. There is always a certain type of soul that must teach you and transmit attainment to you. This cannot come to a person simply from an inanimate system.
Even if a person simply takes a book and begins to study from an inner impulse, some messenger (magid) or soul will appear, meaning a special connection will appear.
A book is not just printed pages; it is a person who has already achieved an attainment, meaning a soul that exists at some level of the spiritual world, and transmits its attainment to us.
And the revelation of spirituality without a book is a unique phenomenon that requires a special revelation from above—either at the price of enormous suffering or due to special destiny. This is not the usual path. We connect with the spiritual system and with the Creator through the souls that have already been granted this, and this is called “by virtue of the fathers.”
There were people who revealed the Creator without prior efforts or study, but these are exceptional cases that do not apply to us. We study and advance through the accepted method, the way people are meant to advance. And if someone somewhere in humanity advances differently… anything is possible, but that is an exception to the rule.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18/26, Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”
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Subtleties of Studying the Authentic Sources
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