Question: By what can a person determine his state?

Answer: A person cannot assign a definition to his own state. He is not the master of his states. He is only capable of discerning the state he is in, measuring it, and evaluating it.

He can evaluate his state according to the degree to which the Creator is revealed to him. For example, I feel bad. I am immersed in evil, completely absorbed in it. I have nothing in my life. Who am I? What am I? I do not know. I simply feel bad.

Then, suddenly, I remember that although I truly feel bad, this state is necessary because I am going through a certain process, and there is a purpose in my being in it.

Having passed through this bad state, I take a lesson from it, and through that I become worthy of knowing the good. It is precisely in this bad state, in this evil, that I begin to understand more and discern more.

Then, when I enter a good state, I will be able to understand that evil and speak about it from an entirely different perspective. The greater the contrast between the bad and the good states, the more I come to know. The greater the confusion, the greater the understanding and attainment that follow.

So what determines the state I am in? It is determined by the extent to which the Creator is revealed to me within that state. If He is revealed to me just a little more, then, despite the fact that I still feel bad, I open the book Shamati and begin to understand that this is not such a terrible state after all. It is simply a stage on the path that I must go through. Then the state is no longer so bad. It is unpleasant in sensation, but favorable for spiritual advancement.

For example, I am building a house. A shipment of concrete blocks has arrived, and I have to carry them up to the second floor. What do you focus on, the hard work itself or what will ultimately come from it? If you see the goal, then carrying the blocks is not so difficult. But if you look only at the state that you are in now, as an ordinary laborer rather than the owner of the future house, then, naturally, carrying the blocks feels like hard labor.
[359381]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 35 “What Is the Meaning of ‘Spies,’ in the Work?” (1991) (7.21.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

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Question: How can I hold on to “There is none else besides Him” when I am engaged in various things that distract and confuse me by bringing either pleasure or suffering?

Answer: First of all, one must believe that all these things are given to me so that through them I will gradually determine that “There is none else besides Him.” This must be the goal.

You should make reminders for yourself, create a system, strict frameworks, so that all of this compels you every 15 or 30 minutes to return to the same state. Everything should mechanically remind you of the Creator. After that, you will already be able to work independently.

Naturally, at first there is no taste in this, but over time it comes. Through these actions, which seem to have “no benefit,” you draw the surrounding light, and it influences you in a general way, so that you remember and constantly remain in this awareness.

Gradually, you come to a state where you feel that you are, at least, no longer in double concealment but in simple, single concealment, where the Creator is constantly present in the background, yet you feel that He is concealed.

With my teacher, Rabash, one could feel that he was never disconnected from the Creator, and this made a very powerful impression.
[359670]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”

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Question: Which criterion can we use to constantly check whether we are in the right environment?

Answer: The right environment is an environment that guides a person’s thoughts and desires to connect with the Creator with maximal force.

The right environment is all my inner qualities relative to my point in the heart, which connects me with the Creator. Everything else in me must contribute to this point of connection with the Creator.

My properties, desires, and aspirations are called my environment. My “I,” which is called “Moses” in me, that is, the point where the formation of the soul begins, can grow only in the right environment.

Rabash writes that there must be an initial state, stages of development of this state, the environment, and stages of development of this environment. If all this works together for the connection with the Creator, optimal conditions are created for the development of the soul.

I have to check which of these four parameters I can influence and which I cannot. It is a pity to waste time, for this is our work. There are many people who waste their breath, unable to see that their pursuits are empty. Of course, they will understand this over time, but it is a shame to make an effort only to realize the mistakes.
[359330]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

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Question: Why is it necessary to put pressure on the group so that it is more precisely directed toward the goal? What does it mean to put pressure? It seems as though the group is constantly resisting this.

Answer: No, the group simply consists of people just like you. Putting pressure on them is also part of your free choice.

By placing yourself under the influence of your friends, as if standing under a shower so that they may influence you and cleanse you, you must also examine exactly how they are influencing you. Maybe they are being frivolous; maybe you are sitting in the “company of mockers.”

You must constantly demand that the group improve.
[359228]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 28 “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?” (1987)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Item 4

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Question: How is the group related to “existence from absence” (Yesh mi Ayin)? Why should it provide me with forces that it has no connection to?

Answer: The group does not belong to Yesh mi Ayin, and therefore, it can give you additional strength. The strength of the group lies in its connection to our root where all souls are united together.

Therefore, here in our world, through my external actions, I can awaken those upper forces in which the power of my ‘”I” is not merely an individual force, as it is in the corporeal world, but is inseparably connected with another 599,999 such forces.

At our root, I and all the other souls exist on the level of Adam HaRishon. Therefore, while living in our world, I can draw strength from my root.
[359326]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

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Question: What should one expect from the commandments of the Torah?

Answer: A “commandment of the Torah” consists of extracting the concept of the “Torah of life” from the Torah, attaining life itself. Baal HaSulam writes about this in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot). He refers not to the study itself, but to its result.

Question: Suppose a person is sweeping the floor in our building or working in the kitchen. Is this considered that he is studying Torah?

Answer: If I do something in our kitchen and intend thereby to attain something in my life, then the desire that arose in me at that moment, multiplied by the good, beneficial thing that I contributed to the group, that is, multiplied by the group’s collective desire to attain spirituality, becomes my own desire.

By serving my friends, I thereby acquire their desires, include myself in them, and then those desires influence me, and direct my own desire into the proper course.

As a result, during the lesson I intend to draw the light of the Torah that reforms from what I study, not to become a great sage or anything else.
[359231]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 14 “Forevermore One Sells All That Is His and Marries a Wise Disciple’s Daughter” (1984)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Item 4 (Recording from 8.14.2007)

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Question: On one hand, a person feels that they have no strength for the work, and they ask the Creator to give them strength. Yet this is considered pride. On the other hand, they can turn to the group, receive the awareness of the greatness of the Creator from it, and only then turn to Him.

So what is the difference? In both cases, I am turning to the Creator.

Answer: You are not capable of turning to the Creator with the forces you currently possess. The Creator gives you an initial awakening, but with it alone you are unable to see the full depth of the problem or appreciate the greatness of the Creator in its solution. You do not yet have enough inner discernments to turn to Him.

Suppose there is a wealthy man who could solve all your problems, but you cannot bring yourself to ask him because you are under the control of your pride. No matter what, you are incapable of turning to him directly for help. You have such a strong feeling of shame that you would have to overcome yourself completely, yet you are unable to do so.

Such is human nature. A person is prepared to be killed rather than allow his inner “I” to be harmed. This “I” is a part of the eternal; it is his soul, and for its sake he is ready to sacrifice his body. For many people, this inner “I” is far more important than life itself.

For example, there may be someone who would give me a million dollars if I simply asked, yet I am unable to do it. Or there may be someone who could help me establish my life, yet I cannot bring myself to turn to him. We encounter this constantly. It reveals the force of our pride, the force of our inner “I,” the very force that separates us from the Creator.
[359287]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

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