Each one believes that it is impossible to be a perfect human being, so in general, he thinks that he is complete, and when he looks at his friends he sees their faults, that they are not all right.

He, on the other hand, is fine (Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”).

Whatever we do here is still part of the corporeal world, and there is only one path by which a person rises into spirituality: love of friends. Many articles have been written and many words have been spoken about the love of friends. What, in the current state of our group, should a person focus on now as something that will actually be beneficial?

I need only one thing. Not now and not later, but always, because even a month from now nothing will have changed compared with today. The work will be the same: recognizing the greatness of the goal, the greatness of connection with the Creator, the only thing worth living for and worth paying any price for.

On Saturday, when you made a toast at the meal, you said: “There is nothing left to give to the Creator, only my soul. I have already given everything and have seen that none of it is worth anything, that it has not even reached its destination. The only thing I have left is my soul. It is mine, and I give it.”

This is the awareness that the group must instill in me. Everything begins and ends with awareness of the importance of the Creator, because our entire path is directed toward Him. If He is not important to me, I will begin to turn in every direction—through 359 of the 360 degrees, excluding that one true direction.

Only one direction leads to Him. All the other directions are my “domain of the many,” where I turn toward fulfilling my own desires, cravings, passions, and deficiencies. Therefore, if I want to leave the central point, the “stony heart,” my point in the heart, and move toward Him and attain Him, then from the very beginning I must set the goal in my sights. And I will be able to keep it in my awareness, my attention, and my focus only if it is important to me.

How can it become important to me? It can become important only if the group tells me that it is important, tells me a thousand times over, because I do not see its importance. I will never start looking for it, because how can I search for something that I do not see, do not feel, and cannot perceive?

The group must give this to me. Here are both the beginning and the end of the work. Nothing changes: one must constantly raise the importance of the Creator through all the degrees, in this world and in the future. There is nothing besides this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Question: What should you do if a friend does not elevate you, but humiliates you? After all, there should be mutual relations in the group. It turns out that you invest effort, and he… .

Answer: Let’s suppose that the whole group is in a certain state where it does not awaken or uplift me in any way. In such a case, it is worthwhile to take several people from the group, work only with them, and together with them set an example for everyone else. But without unnecessary words—simply set an example.

If the others want to listen, then also tell them: “We are tired of sitting in the ‘assembly of the frivolous,’ and we have decided that we want to get out of this state. If you want, join us, and if not, then don’t. We can no longer continue like this.”

A person can do this alone, or take several like-minded friends with whom it will be easier. That is all. For this, there is no need to unite into groups; this can be done freely, so that everyone has the opportunity to join.

In any case, one needs somehow to look for a way to break the existing situation. And here, I think, it is not even worth giving advice. Seek advice yourselves, and that itself will be a blessed work.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”

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Question: We have been hearing about inspiration and importance for many years. If we put this into practice, rather than just talking about it, must we force our advancement?

Answer: We must engage the group in a game through a kind of forced, feigned “advertising.” Everyone here is obliged to play out the importance of the Creator and to lift their friend’s spirits. Do I really care, do I really want it? Yet I am obligated to do it, by force, artificially, and by pretending, rising above my feelings and understanding, rising above my reason.

From this moment on, everyone starts to play the game: the sensation of the Creator is important to us, knowing the Creator is important to us, the greatness of the Creator is important to us. We must not forget about Him or engage in empty chatter that lead away from the goal; this must become a burning topic for everyone. Apart from this, we have nothing in common. And we must do so forcibly, artificially, and by pretending, knowing full well that it is all a lie and a game.

If He is concealed, yet you have to perform actions stemming from the realization of His greatness, how do you go about it? You have no other way but to imagine His properties instead, to the best of your ability, and advance in that direction.

Comment: Everyone can justify such an approach.

My Response: So start playing! From this moment on, we begin to act.

Question: What if I am a bad actor?

Answer: If we all decide to do this, it means we are taking on the “burden of the kingdom of heaven” (Ol Malchut Shamayim). No one wants to, and yet we accept it. That is all.

There are descents and states of despair; this is understandable, but in general, everyone, as Rabash says, “take the leap.” Everyone is advancing, and a friend’s descent, along with my ascent and everything else, counts as a positive. And then time just races forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Our work before the Machsom and after the Machsom differs each time. After the Machsom, where there are Kelim [vessels, plural of Kli] of bestowal and Kelim of reception, everything is different. After I have attained awareness of the greatness of the Creator, the action itself is already performed differently. Before that, there is nothing to discuss, for I am striving in the wrong direction. First I must direct myself, and only then do I fly there. This must be done before everything else.

I worked with airplanes for several years in the Israeli Air Force. Imagine an airplane sitting on the ground completely unoriented regarding the cardinal directions; the pilot in the cockpit does not know where he is, the directions are unknown to him. He exists within a three-dimensional sphere, knowing nothing about it.

Should he fly? No; in this situation, it is better for him to remain in place because moving even a millimeter could lan him who knows where. So, first of all, he must check the location of the goal toward which he needs to head.

And so we direct ourselves: this is our goal, in the direction of it we now apply effort, and only then do we begin to move.

However, this goal is concealed; the Creator is hidden. I don’t have the slightest notion of similarity of form; it does not attract me; the issue doesn’t even exist for me. The group must provide me with this Hisaron, this need. My point in the heart only feels that something is missing.

The first nine Sefirot must reveal what is lacking in my point in the heart. They must tell Malchut: “This is what you lack.” And these first nine Sefirot, in relation to me, are embodied by the group. Nothing else will help me.

If my friends do not provide me with this, I must seek another group. Either I organize them so that they give me the importance of the goal, or I must leave them and seek another group where the importance of the goal already exists; and if not, then I will bring it there. And the group will hear that this is important and that work must be done on it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Question: How can I know whether the attitude I bring into the group is correct? If my future depends on what I contribute to it, how can I be sure that I am contributing something correct?

Answer: You are asking: what actions toward the group on your part will be unequivocally good? How can you avoid leading it astray? Even from an egoistic point of view, this can affect you in unpredictable ways. If only you make a mistake, is one thing; but if you mislead a thousand people, it all comes back to you, and how it returns! Is that the question?

Comment: It is not so much that I am misleading them, but rather that I am doing anything useful.

My Response: Doing nothing is tantamount to misleading them. Baal HaSulam writes about this in “The Giving of the Torah,” and there is nothing more to say on the matter.

How might I mislead or not lead my friends or avoid doing so? If I evoke enthusiasm in them based on things other than the greatness of the Creator, this is a sign that I am misleading them. Then the question arises: Does it mean I shouldn’t say a word to them other than, “The Creator is great,” “Glory to God,” or “With God’s help”? Shall we speak only like that?

No. However, it must be clear to all my friends that my attitude toward them is conditioned by the greatness of the Creator, and I want this to be present in them, in me, and in the group. Otherwise, I wouldn’t address them, wouldn’t demand anything from them, and I wouldn’t be here at all.

Question: How can this be clear?

Answer: Let them feel it. Let them feel. It is very simple. It need not even be expressed in words, no. If only between the lines in messages and telephone conversations, that is perfectly normal.

However, you understand that a certain transmission of force, of enthusiasm, is necessary; a certain message of bestowal from one to another, when, regardless of my desire, I as if spread my attitude toward the Creator onto the friend, and the friend feels this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

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Question: How do I know whether I am giving the group the awareness of the importance of the goal? For example, I have this thought. How can I check whether this really affects the group?

Answer: It is written: “All that is in your hands and in your power to do, that do.” Only this is meant: not that you do everything that comes to mind, but that you work specifically toward that end. All that is in your hands and in your power to do, do it in order to increase the importance of the Creator.

Question: This is clear. But perhaps time is being wasted, is being spent inefficiently?

Answer: Since all that depends on us is the acceleration of time, its shortening, condensation, and compression, our negligence, conversely, leads to the prolongation of time. This is the whole point.

How can you know whether you are wasting time or not? If you constantly maintain a state of enthusiasm regarding the Creator, an enthusiasm stemming from the knowledge that you want to be connected to Him rather than a pleasant sensation; if an ascent for you means connection with the Creator rather than a feeling of fulfillment—then you are acting correctly.

And if the sensation of the Creator constitutes fulfillment for you, then the question becomes what kind of sensation is it—one for the sake of receiving or for the sake of bestowing? If it is for the sake of receiving, I might feel calm, as if nothing more is needed. I feel good with this sensation of the Creator.

If, however, it is a sensation in which I already think a little about Him for the sake of bestowal, then I must immediately have a Hisaron, a need. Am I bestowing? What am I bestowing? How am I bestowing? Does He truly feel me? And so on.

Then you begin to feel a different Kli within yourself, a Kli that is within Him, which joins your point in the heart. Because your point in the heart is a point foreign to the heart, inside it. It is called the quality of Israel, whereas the heart is called “the nations of the world.”

Israel does not belong to this world. These are Galgalta Eynaim, vessels of bestowal; they are not counted among the nations of the world.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?”

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Question: Are there ascents and descents in our state during the preparation period?

Answer: In our state there are also ascents and descents. I experience moments that are good and moments that are bad. I feel connected to the Creator at times and disconnected from Him at others. Sometimes I feel a need for Him, and at other times that I was indifferent to Him. Thus, I have various internal discernments (Avhanot), and now I need to put them in order.

This is called my “self,” my world. There is the “I” that desires to enjoy, and that possesses some attitude toward the Creator, when the Creator is significant or indifferent to me, when I bestow to Him or do not bestow, when I am ready to detach from Him or to connect with Him, or perhaps not ready. And so on. A person must begin to think about this, to live by this connection and this attitude—that is all.

If the Creator seems a little more hidden, closed, and vague for you now, that is why you have the friends. Practice with them. By working with them, you will undoubtedly see very quickly whether you think about them or not, whether it is important to you to fulfill them or not. What do you think about: that it should be good for them or for you, whether the effort is worthwhile or merely a hindrance to you.

You will immediately see that you need an awareness of the greatness of the goal, without which you would simply toss all your friends into the trash bin. You will immediately begin to feel that you are not suited for such a thing, and at once you acquire an inner discernment of what you lack.

All this applies if you wish to advance along this path. If you do not want to, then at least you are aware of it. This is a very effective “laboratory experiment.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Return, O Israel, unto the Lord Your God,’ in the Work?”

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Question: What exactly happens during the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine?

Answer: In the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine, I determine my attitude toward the desire to receive, toward my nature. I begin to see that I am under the power of this desire, how harmful its power is to me, and what I lose because of it.

In this world I might be winning and setting myself up quite nicely with the desire to receive, but at the same time I am losing spirituality. After all, if I begin to define the spiritual as bestowal, as drawing closer to the force of bestowal, as the measure of similarity to the giver, then a different assessment of the intention for the sake of reception arises, specifically, how detrimental it is to me if I wish to attain perfection and eternity.

And then it gradually becomes clear to me that the state I actually wish to attain is completely opposite to the one in which I find myself now. I do not like this state called spirituality! I simply hate it! How can one not hate it, for in it there is only bestowal, no thoughts about oneself at all. Who else am I supposed to think about? Perhaps about those people sitting around me here studying?! Where would such a desire suddenly come from?!

As a person makes an increasingly thorough assessment within their soul, they see how unattainable this is. So what is left for them to do?

This is how a person is brought closer to the truth. For a brief moment the truth is revealed to them; then they spend several months processing it and trying to banish those thoughts, yet, despite everything, it somehow continues to work within them.  Consequently, the next time around, they handle it a bit more easily; that is, they fear it slightly less and agree with it by one percent.

In time the concept of intention for the sake of bestowal will be revealed to them again, and they will once again experience shock: “To give to such an extent?! Not to think about myself at all?!”

Again, they try with all their might to flee from this thought, to block it out with everyday activities, to hide behind the work of dissemination, the study of books, anything at all. But gradually, certain internal shifts occur and he grows accustomed to the idea by another percent. “Could this really be true? What if this turns out to be the best state for me?” Nevertheless, he interprets it as follows: “I will give everything, but it will make me feel good.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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For this reason, there is a reality where one exercises on corporeal pleasures and afterwards he can come out of the Tzimtzum and concealment to some extent, for he can already choose and say that he is receiving this delight and pleasure only because he wants to bestow (Rabash, Article 33, What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet).

Question: The article says that a person should perform “exercises” on corporeal pleasures. What does this mean?

Answer: We say that we should think about the friends, about the group, and about giving to the friends, in other words, about living through their desires, and about bringing them joy. All of this is not in order to have a pleasant time, but in order to use this as a basis for determining just how far we actually are from the desire to bestow, and how much we loathe the very idea.

It is also about observing how I might attempt to force actions ostensibly aimed at bestowal upon myself and try to live through desires that are external and alien to me. Through these exercises, a person learns and discovers how capable they are of doing this, and how much they are not. Although this still cannot be measured precisely, the person nevertheless learns in order to understand where they stand.

We are not yet talking about a person actually acquiring the ability to bestow. Without a doubt, they are incapable of starting and completing such an action on their own. They only begin it because they must try to carry it out by themselves. But when they fail despite making efforts, it is revealed to them that the Creator must be the main participant and the one who executes the action.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments That a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Question: How can I receive the necessary impression from my friends?

Answer: One must be impressed by the environment regarding matters that pertain to the greatness of the Creator. This is possible only if the friends appear great in my eyes, and I view myself as smaller in comparison to them. What my friends do, how they work, what they are occupied with in life in general must truly become a great example for me of people who sacrifice themselves for the sake of spirituality.

Then I will gain an impression of how important spirituality is to them, from what they speak about and what they think. I will recognize how much higher they are than all those who are outside this frameworks and I will be able to compare what fills the lives of people outside my group and those who are inside it.

Thus, one needs to value the friends, lower oneself, listen, and pay attention to how they behave and act. And then I must demand that they openly, and not modestly, perform good deeds and speak about the importance of the group and the importance of the Creator so that I hear it, and not as if each of them were a hidden righteous.

You are able to receive an impression from the environment only on the condition that you place yourself in a position of humility relative to it.

Comment: But this is against nature; it is impossible.

My Response: I do not think that it is impossible. Start thinking about this. It is not against nature. Look at how each one comes at three o’clock in the morning, overcoming all his obstacles. There is an inner intensity within him that sets him apart from anyone on the outside. Consider how special he is given that the Creator chose him to bring here and make an example of for you.

In relation to you, he is an angel bearing a message about the importance of spirituality. He can convey an awareness of the importance of the Creator to you. He has literally descended from heaven and appeared before you in order to tell you that the Creator is important. He is a messenger.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”

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