Our sages said (Taanit, p 30b), “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its joy” (Rabash, “What Is, ‘Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,’ in the Work?”).

We must prepare our work not only on the spiritual plane, but also on the plane of this corporeal world, whose levels were also shattered. When a person works with the Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet levels with the intention of correction, it means that he uses his life in its corporeal form, and in its human level only insofar as it is necessary to sustain his existence. All his other actions are directed solely toward drawing closer to the Creator.

As for animalistic pleasures, we understand what the human body requires. With regard to the pleasures of wealth, honor, and knowledge, our work lies in relation to society. This is the work through which a person must properly arrange his attitude toward these pleasures.

For example, regarding money, at first, he may give only one tenth of his earnings, but later he keeps for himself only what is essential. As Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Giving of the Torah,” he uses the rest in order to bring the world to a corrected state, to bring it closer to the Creator, that is, for the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

With regard to honor, he realizes this within the group by lowering himself and elevating the image of the group in his eyes, so as to receive from it the greatness of the Creator. As for knowledge, he strives to attain the spiritual world, the upper world, the Creator, and His nature. He arranges this desire so that he wishes to engage in it in order to truly come to bestowal upon the Creator through the upper light, which is awakened as a result of the study.

Thus, a person’s spirituality becomes clothed in this world, in everything that surrounds him, either through his animate level, by giving the animal within him only what it truly requires and paying no attention to its other demands, or through the human within him, through his relationship with the environment, where he seeks to use everything around him in order to direct all his powers and qualities toward attaining a two-way connection with the Creator.

This means that the result of the shattering that exists within him in the form of “for one’s own sake” is transformed into “for the sake of bestowal.” This is what is meant by: “Whoever mourns the destruction of Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem means “the perfect city” and “perfect awe,” when Malchut rises to the height of Bina, undergoes shattering, and the connection between Bina and Malchut acquires the opposite intention: for one’s own sake. But through his sorrow and through his work, a person attains the joy of Jerusalem, when he corrects the Kelim and fills them with the lights.

A Kli with the intention to bestow, filled with the light, is bestowal to the Creator. This is the “joy of Jerusalem,” the perfect city, the perfect Kli, in perfect awe and faith: the quality of Bina spread throughout the whole of Malchut.

All these discernments: the destroyed Jerusalem and the rebuilt Jerusalem, are, in essence, two opposite extremes that a person must pass through on his path while still living in this world, in this lifetime, clothed in his corporeal body.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,’ in the Work?”

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It is said: “Everyone who mourns for Jerusalem will merit seeing its joy.” This means that one must pray for the society. But what should one ask for? Does society even have a desire for spirituality? The point is that all the desires that exist in society belong to the person who is working on correction.

The desires are inside the people, and the intentions must be developed by the Kabbalist. Desire and intention are two distinct categories; they do not exist in the same place. When a Kabbalist works with the Masach (screen), Tzimtzum (restriction), and Ohr Hozer (reflected light), the desires start to become ordered and transformed in accordance with the intention with which he wants to use the desires.

Intention is called the “head,” and desire the “body.” We work on the “head,” on the intention, so that it will match the body, and then we can use the “body,” the desires. If such matching existed and then disappeared, this signifies the destruction (of the Temple). And if the matching between intention and desire is restored, that is the building of a spiritual Partzuf, its birth.

The Kli is the intention to bestow. The entire process of correction consists of attaining the right intention. The desires exist; they are simply not properly arranged, not supplied with the correct intention. No new desires appear.

The breaking, restriction, and concealment occur so that we can clarify the desires and begin to connect them. Just as an infant is born and begins to grow, so we correct the breaking and grow our soul.

We work on the intention to make it one of bestowal, directed toward giving pleasure to the Creator. In order to bestow to the Creator, we must concentrate the correct intention and select from the broken desires those that can work under its rule. From this we build a spiritual Partzuf, the measure of our bestowal.

Therefore, there were shatterings and preparations for correction , events that took place not through any fault of our own. The lower level played almost no part in this. The Egyptian exile, the desert, the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian exile, then the Second Temple, which was also destroyed, and the exit into this last exile–how could all of this happen?!

It was simply all preparation carried out from above. And now we only need to perform the final correction. Only it is counted as the work of the human being, while everything else was preparation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/19, on topic “9th of Av (Tisha B’Av)”

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The state in which a person acquires the ability to go by faith above reason is called Rosh HaShanah (New Year). This means that he reaches the peak of all his states and reveals the Creator’s name, Tzvaot (Lord of Hosts). That is, a person has gone through all the states of ascents and descents, called “Tze” and “Bo,” which together form the name Tzvaot (plural of Tzava [Hebrew], “host” or “army”).

When a person goes through these states, he becomes like a soldier: from “Tze” (a descent), he enters the state of “Bo” (an ascent). In this way, he builds an army (Tzava) within himself by overcoming disturbances through faith above reason.

These disturbances are called the Mount Esau. A mountain (Har) comes from the word “Hirurim” (thoughts, reflections), which arise according to the root of the soul and its structure. When a person overcomes these disturbances through faith above reason, he passes from Mount Esau to Mount Zion. This means that from descents he passes to ascents.

Through working with thoughts above reason, a person acquires the force of Bina. Therefore, he is called Israel (Yashar-El), straight to the Creator, because he receives this directness of intention in striving toward the Creator from Bina. Then, from the revelation of the Creator’s general governance (the king of the whole world), a person comes to the Creator’s personal governance (the king of Israel).

The king of the whole world he attains consciously, through the Creator’s actions that he sees. But the king of Israel he attains through the work of faith above reason. It is revealed to him that all the states he has gone through were given by the Creator. Then, from Mount Zion, he ascends to Jerusalem, from the Malchut of Zion to the Malchut of Jerusalem.

The completion of this state, in which he reveals that the Creator is the king of the entire earth, that is, of all his desires, both past and present, and verifies within all his desires that he is adhered to the Creator, is called Rosh Hashanah. Rosh (head) is the highest state among all those he has passed through within the desires of the soul.

This is the meaning of the holiday of Rosh HaShanah. On the one hand, it can be said that it is the beginning of something new, the beginning of an ascent, a state that stands above all corrections. On the other hand, it is the summary of what a person has gone through during the year, the result of correcting all the desires of the soul. When a person reaches such a state, it means that he has attained Rosh HaShanah.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Concerning the Omer count [a count of seven weeks beginning the second night of Passover and ending in the holiday of Shavuot], it is known that man’s primary work is to connect himself to the Creator (Rabash, Letter 59).

The Omer signifies that a person is in a state of correction after the exodus from Egypt on the levels of the small state (Katnut). Therefore during the period of the counting of the Omer rejoicing is forbidden because joy is the drawing of the light of Hochma.

Shaving is also forbidden because “hair” (Searot) is likewise connected with the drawing of lights. “Hair” is an external Partzuf upon the body (Guf) of a person for attracting additional light.

Therefore, during the days of the small state, we live with little, and this is called the counting of the Omer. Through lowering himself and working in modesty, a person comes to the counting of the Omer. “Counting” means that light already begins to shine upon him; he draws lights through subjugating himself across all seven of his qualities, each of which also consists of seven parts that make a total of 49 qualities.

Through this, a person reaches the holiday of Shavuot, that is, a state in which the Kli (vessel) becomes corrected and worthy of drawing the Torah.

Then, from the animate level, from animate food, from the Omer (“sheaf”), from Seorim (“barley”), one comes to the level of Man (Adam), to the degree of MA.

All of this comes through working on the recognition of the greatness of the Creator, through efforts to increase His greatness in one’s eyes throughout all 49 qualities or states. Through this a person grows because by increasing the greatness of the Creator each time, he draws light from above, and thus corrects his qualities to complete perfection and arrives at the holiday of Shavuot.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59

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In the spiritual sense, Jerusalem is the point of connection between the souls and the upper system. If we speak of the city itself, it is completely unique and has a special status for Israel, because it is the place where the Temple Mount is located and where the Temple stood; it is the symbol of the connection of this world with the upper world.

Jerusalem is a symbol of unity. And it is known that it is precisely unity that makes the people of Israel special and chosen. Without it, our people would not have attained the degree of Bina, of bestowal, which is symbolized by the number 40 (the forty years of wandering in the desert), and the land of Israel, which means straight to the Creator (Israel, Yashar‑El).

All this became possible thanks to the work they carried out, through their ascents and descents and through overcoming all kinds of obstacles along the way.

When we work against egoism to foster our connection, we attain a desire directed to the Creator; this is a state collectively referred to as the “land of Israel.” Subsequently we arrive at a special, perfect city (Ira Shlema), called Jerusalem (Yerushalaim).

Within this city lies a mountain (Har), that is, a special set of doubts (Hirhurim) through which we acquire the vessel of receiving for the sake of bestowal (the First Temple), followed by the vessel of bestowal for the sake of bestowal (the Second Temple).

All these spiritual states are attained only by unity. We are not speaking about stones or a geographical location, but rather of the Jerusalem within the heart, that is, the process of constructing a relationship defined as perfect awe or the perfect city (Ira Shlema). It is the place of connection between us and the upper force, the Creator.

Everything is expressed through unity. Where there is unity, there is the land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount; but where there is no unity, none of these things exists either. Therefore do we truly reside in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem today?

Strictly speaking, no. For now, these are only potential concepts intended to direct us toward attaining their essence, that is, correct connection. Only then will we find ourselves in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, and upon the Temple Mount.

Baal HaSulam explains that we were granted the land of Israel for a time as an opportunity to realize our unity and attain redemption, that is, the revelation of the upper force. Redemption is freedom from one’s egoism—for each one individually and for all of us together.

Therefore, our primary task lies in working toward unity against egoism. In doing so, we will reveal Jerusalem in our heart along with all the other, deeper, inner qualities that will manifest within it.

“Jerusalem, built like a city which combines in fellowship, the city which confers fellowship on all of Israel” (Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi ,Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Chagiga).

This means that if we attain the spiritual state called Jerusalem, we become a single people of Israel, as if one man. In this lies the symbol and the essence of Jerusalem. Nowhere else, in no other nation, is there such an approach. Because in the people of Israel, everything is always revealed only through unity—without which there is no people of Israel, no land of Israel, and no Jerusalem.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/17, “Jerusalem Day”

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Question: What is the meaning of the holiday Lag Ba’Omer?

Answer: Lag Ba’Omer is a special holiday; it is a festival of light, the day when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of The Book of Zohar (a work unparalleled in all generations of humanity), passed away from this world.

Within this single book, all the laws of the spiritual world are described, together with the entire network of connections that governs us from above, and determines the whole process we undergo in this world.

The spiritual world is the upper system that activates our world, which is completely governed from above. Our entire world emerged from a single point of the Big Bang, expanded, and developed over 14 billion years.

In the course of this evolution, the Earth was formed with its solid crust surrounding a raging fire. The cooling of this crust allowed life to exist on the surface, together with all surrounding nature.

But the question is not how the still, vegetative, and animate levels developed, but how we develop and where we are heading. This is what The Zohar speaks about. It truly speaks about everything, including the formation of the upper worlds that influence and govern us.

This can also be seen in The Zohar and in the writings of Isaac Luria, the great Kabbalist from Safed in the 16^th century. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah has much to say about the counting of the Omer (Sefirat HaOmer). But in essence it speaks about the correction of a person who must transform himself to become a spiritual being.

Question: What must he correct?

Answer: It is written: “I have created the evil inclination, and given the Torah for its correction, for its light returns to the source.” We are initially created from the evil inclination, an egoistic desire to receive, and therefore we consider only ourselves, not others. In this form, the world exists, and we see where it is heading.

The purpose of creation is, that through the process of our development, we eventually come to the realization that our ego, our egoistic desire to enjoy, is actually causing us harm; that we have reached a dead end in development and are no longer capable of moving forward; that we are destroying our lives, our families, and the lives of our children, with no hope for a good future.

Comment: This resembles the current situation in Israel.

My Response: Indeed. But all of this is intended to bring us to a state of repentance regarding our egoistic development, to make us realize that our ego is an evil inclination that is leading us to destruction.

At that point we come to feel a need correction: “How can we correct our nature? How can we treat others with friendship? How can we live in love, unity, and bestowal?” This is the only way can we exist in an integral world, a world where we are all interconnected and mutually dependent. How can we be connected if we are mired in mutual hatred?

In such a state, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed; it explains what the Torah truly is. For this very reason Kabbalah is referred to as the true Torah. It is through this science that we learn how to correct ourselves. To correct oneself means to relate to others according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is well known, yet rarely observed.

To love your neighbor means that I must just as I love myself. This seems unrealistic, and indeed it is beyond human ability. Yet it is written: “I have created the evil inclination, and I have given the Torah for its correction.”

This means there a force called “Torah” exists; it is not merely a book as commonly understood, but a method of correction through the light, as it is written: “its light returns to the source.”

“Torah” (from the Hebrew “Hora’a” – instruction) is also referred to the science of light or the wisdom of Kabbalah. When a person uses it correctly to correct themself, they awaken a force hidden in nature, which begins to operate within them, and they feel how they change.

This is a positive, benevolent force of nature, the force of bestowal and love; it gives a person a good feeling and a kind attitude toward others. Through it one exits their ego, rises above it, and becomes bestowing, kind, and good toward others.

The instant this force is revealed in a person, they begin to perceive reality differently. Instead of this world, one perceives the upper world.

We begin to perceive reality through newly acquired qualities, qualities not of reception, but of bestowal; no longer driven by a constant urge to receive solely for our own sake, exploiting everyone else in the process, but by a desire to act for the benefit of society as a whole. We see that everyone is interconnected like one family, and it is impossible for one to be well while another suffers.

Today we have reached a state where we must embark on this process of correction. We see that it is impossible to continue as before. Consequently, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed, which explains how we can correct ourselves and build a society connected by good relations.

Question: How is the holiday of Lag Ba’Omer connected to this process?

Answer: This is precisely where correction occurs. Kabbalah explains that our egoistic desire to receive—to absorb everything into ourselves at the expense of others—is an evil force within each person. Therefore our soul is called “shattered,” and we must repair it.

It is known in Kabbalah that the soul consists of 49 parts (7 X 7). There are 7 main qualities, each divided into 7, making 49 in total. Each must be corrected.

We correct them through the light that reforms, a special force that is hidden in nature. During the days of the Omer count, we reveal specific egoistic desires within ourselves that cause harm to others, and we seek to correct them.

We draw the light that reforms and it corrects each of these 49 parts of the soul.

In this way, we correct these 49 parts, from the holiday of Passover to Shavuot. But on the 33^rd day of the counting of the Omer, Lag Ba’Omer, there is a special state. Its uniqueness is that if we reach this stage in correction, we can be assured we will continue and complete it.

For this reason, it was on this day that Rabbi Shimon completed his work and departed from our world, and we celebrate the elevation of his soul.

Question: You say the soul has 49 parts. Can they actually be counted?

Answer: Yes. This is how we perceive them as we correct the soul. Even a simple religious person recites which Sefira he is correcting daily during the Omer, although he may not feel or understand it.

But those who study Kabbalah not only say these words, they realize these corrections within themselves.

Comment: The 49 days of the Omer conclude on the 50^th day, the holiday of Shavuot, when it is customary to eat dairy and wear white.

My Response: Shavuot is both the giving of the Torah from above and its reception from below. The giving has already occurred; the reception depends on us.

It is written that every day a person should say that the Torah has been given to him. The problem is only in receiving it, that is, in feeling that I must correct myself, and therefore I need the light that reforms.

Then I accept all the rules of the Torah: to be “as one man with one heart,” “love your neighbor as yourself,” and “do not do to another what is hateful to you.”

Let us hope that ultimately we will understand that we have a powerful force in our hands that is capable of correcting us and elevating us above this entire reality.
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From Kab Radio 103FM

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Question: How can we understand that everything that depends on us is only the awareness of the state given to us, while everything else is determined from above? How can we make this understanding come faster?

Answer: As Rabash writes, we must sanctify the times: “Israel sanctifies the times.” This happens through striving to attain a higher-quality effort during the study.

Question: But we are doing this, are we not?

Answer: I do not know whether we are. This is something not so easy for a person to measure. Does your soul truly ache and respond to every word so that you are seeking salvation? Is this what you demand from every word in your study? Do you search in each word for its true spiritual meaning in order to connect through it to the source of life, and to feel that if you remain disconnected from this source even for a moment, you are as if dead?

Coming to such an awareness of necessity is precisely our work, our collective ascent. I hope that during Passover we will indeed reach such a common state.

If we unite during the holiday and think on a common level about what we can do in order to make the best use of the special surrounding lights of Passover, then we will be able to gain a great deal for our advancement.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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The Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust is a special, very sorrowful day in the history of the Jewish people and of all humanity, since we are all connected with one another. On such a day we must speak about the causes of this tragedy and its lessons, so that “the deeds of the fathers may serve as a sign for the sons.”

There is nothing but the upper force, good and doing good, which governs us all the time. There is not a single action that goes beyond this good governance.

Therefore, if in our scrutiny we do not rise above our egoistic nature and begin to judge the Creator, doubting His good guidance, then we will deceive ourselves. Then all our investigation will bring no benefit and will lead us into the same bitter reality we are forced to speak about today.

The Creator feels our sensations. If we are united and rejoice in this, then the Creator rejoices. He has no sensations of His own; He resides within us, much like a mother who lives through her beloved infant. Through our connection with one another, we create a place for the Creator, a place where He can exist.

And if we are not connected, then there is no place for the Creator; consequently, we feel His actions in a distorted, inverted form, as if they do not come from Him. Every action is experienced in us in direct proportion to the degree of our unity or disunity.

The Creator resides within our connection with one another. This connection must be in a constant state of development, beginning from the initial shattering performed by the Creator up to the final correction, complete adhesion. As long as we do not lag behind in our advancement from the stages of correction we are destined to traverse, all is well with us. But if we fall behind, then we find ourselves in a dire state, one that we ourselves have brought about.

If at every moment we do not correct the connection between us, then we feel the difference between the desired state and the actual one. Suppose that today I must be corrected by 20% in my connection with all humanity and I have reached only 15% connection.

Consequently the missing 5% are revealed to me as pressure, problems. In essence, these are the forces that are meant to speed up my advancement, to make up for the delay, to extinguish the gap between the desired and the actual.

These forces do not testify to the goodness or evil of the Creator, but are simply a natural consequence of the work of the system, as it is said: “A law has been given and cannot be transgressed.” That is, one must evaluate not by how painful or pleasant it is for us, but by how much these forces, which are revealed to us as good or evil, help us to advance correctly.

The Creator does not wish us evil, but there is a law of nature, and in fulfilling it we feel our connection, whereas in violating it we feel pain, to such an extent that today we are forced to recall the Holocaust, the most sorrowful event in the history of the Jewish people.

And of course, it was not caused by the Creator, but by people who were obliged to correct the connection between them and did not correct it. The delay in correction was so enormous that it poured out into terrible suffering.

What lessons can we draw from this? Throughout the journey from ancient Babylon until today many tragic events have occurred, and all for a single reason. Since the Creator represents the general law of nature, the system shows us the necessity of connection. But we do not listen to it and do not hasten to rectify the delay, we consequently receive the corresponding consequences. In fact, we ourselves have caused them and cannot blame the Creator.

We are aware of the requisite conditions, but we do not fulfill them; in doing so, we summon forces that push us toward our ultimate goal with greater severity and resolve.  Throughout history tension and troubles have pursued us: exiles, enslavement in Egypt, wandering in the desert, and the destruction of the Temple. But the Holocaust is a state of an entirely unique nature.

In the course of its historical development, the people of Israel had already reached the point where the fourth degree of connection within the soul of Adam HaRishon became a necessity, but failed to realize it. Even today we are not fulfilling this goal, so what can we expect? Only states even worse than those that we have already endured. We must learn from history in order not to repeat the same states.

After Babylon and Egypt, blows pursue us one after another at every moment when we do not create the connection between us in the required measure. The punishment will be collective for the entire people of Israel. And today we are responsible not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.

At one time it was possible to carry out the correction in a limited group, within the European Jewry. The Nazis themselves wanted to help the Jews revive the State of Israel. At first, they acted as forces helping the correction. But if we do not use the chance given to us, these forces turn into negative ones.

And today, if we do not use the forces serving to awaken us, forces that are already manifesting as negative, they will turn into something far more terrible ones than anything we witnessed before. Today’s Holocaust would be on a different scale entirely, not confined to Europe, but would encompass the whole world. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand this reality and hasten to undertake the necessary corrections before it is too late.

If we unite, then the upper force flows through us to all the nations of the world, to all of reality, and gradually the whole world attains a state of unity. At that point, all turmoil subsides, the Creator begins to reveal Himself to the created beings, and the world attains its destined correction.

If, however, we, the people of Israel, do not unite among ourselves, at least within Israel, where there are the best conditions for connection, if we do not become as one man with one heart, do not love our neighbor as ourselves, do not become a light for the nations of the world by demonstrating an example of unity to the world, then we will pass through such terrible states that the horrors of the Holocaust will pale in comparison.

Merits can turn into faults and faults into merits. Therefore, we must believe that we currently have the opportunity, the time, the place, and all the necessary means to avoid repeating the mistake made by the Jewish people almost a hundred years ago.

We must not squander the opportunity to unite among ourselves in order to connect with the upper force that is inherently good and the source of all goodness. Through us this force, which wants to be revealed to all the inhabitants of this world, will be able to manifest. We must help it in this and become a conduit between it and humanity.

Let us not repeat past mistakes. The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the laws of nature, laws that operate independently of whether we find them pleasant or unpleasant, laws that do not take into account anyone’s partisan or economic interests. There is no doubt that had the Jewish people behaved differently back then, the world today would look completely different.

Everything lies in our hands; we determine our fate and the fate of the whole world. The law of nature is an immutable law that must be fulfilled. The Creator does not pity us and does not punish us, He simply carries out this universal law. The Creator is nature, and according to nature’s program we are obliged to unite in one desire, in one intention, according to a single formula of mutual bestowal. We must bring this unity to the world—this is our mission.

Let us not repeat the bitter mistakes of the past; instead, on this solemn day, let us resolve to take upon ourselves the sacred duty of leading the world toward true unity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/19 on the topic “Holocaust Remembrance Day”

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Concerning the Maror, it is written in the Haggadah, “This Maror we are eating, what is it for? For the lives of our fathers in Egypt were made bitter by the Egyptians, as it was said, ‘And they made their lives bitter with hard work … which they made them do hard labor.’”

We should understand what “And they made their lives bitter with hard work” means. What is it in the work of the Creator? (Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”)

On one hand, it is written in the Torah that the people of Israel are “stiff-necked,” stubborn, unwilling to listen to anyone; it is difficult to impose anything on them or obligate them.

On the other hand, it is said that this is done by the Creator. He places Israel in such conditions, gives them all kinds of obstacles, hardens their heart so that they cannot hear and fulfill what He demands, and so that they will feel the need for Him with the full depth of their desire to receive, and then within them arises the desire for redemption.

What is required from the people of Israel if the Creator so hardens their hearts?

In the article “Freedom of Will” we learn that nothing needs to be done. There is nothing new that must be built, everything has already been built. All the degrees are arranged, and if a person rises from degree to degree, it is, of course, because he receives the strength, the mind, and the desire from above. If he has an awakening from below, it means he has the desire and the sense of necessity for ascent, and he cannot help but move to the next degree.

So where, then, is the place for our work?

Our work is in the middle, in the constant “and they groaned…”, that is, in a quick, independent check: Can we turn to the Creator?

Our work is in the awareness of the state. As soon as a person becomes aware of his state, from above it is immediately changed to a more advanced one. He becomes aware of the next state, again it is replaced with an even more advanced one. And so, each time.

The entire ladder of states was already created in advance in the process of the expansion of the light from above downward. There is nothing new here, everything has already been prepared for us.

A person must understand that if he wishes to improve his state (and this is also true regarding society and our people in these difficult times), he has no possibility of doing so while remaining on the same degree, because the degree on which he stands determines his state.

If we wish to feel better, we must rise to a degree closer to the light; there we will feel better. And if we want to feel even better, we will be obliged to rise even higher.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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Break The Idols In Yourself

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Question: What is “leaven” (Chametz) that we so carefully remove before the holiday of Passover?

Answer: The leaven before Passover is the evil inclination that we had in Egypt that we used in order to fight with one another.

But the leaven we return to after Passover is used differently. We use it in order to bestow upon one another. After all, without the bad relationships we had before, we would not know how to establish good ones. That is, we use the opposite—where there was hatred, there will now be love.

Yet this new leaven is not the same as the previous leaven because I use it for the sake of bestowal, for the sake of love.

For example, before I would constantly take your toys when playing with you, and I would enjoy the fact that you cried, screamed, and ran to complain to your mother. Now I decide that I will no longer do this. So what do I live on? “The bread of affliction,” Matzah. What do I gain from this? What pleasures are there in life? None! For seven days I remain in such a state.

Then I pass as though through a tiny opening, from exile to redemption. This is called the crossing of the final sea (Red Sea). That is, I exit the state in which I used my ego and enjoyed my own power, like Pharaoh.

And afterward when I have made the decision to become different, that same leaven, that is, those same toys that I took from you and enjoyed your crying about it, I return to you, and now I enjoy the fact that you receive pleasure.

This is bread after the exodus from Egypt, not the “bread of affliction,” not even ordinary bread, but a luxurious cake that is 620 times richer, that we call “bread of love.”

We take all the evil that we had in Egypt and turn it into good. This is what the people of Israel wept about during the forty years of wandering in the desert. They cry, “Where is our Egypt?!” because they include it within themselves, and then they correct it, again and again.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matzah,” 3/24/15

Related Material:
When “Frugal Bread” Turns Into “Bread of Love”
Escape From Egyptian Darkness
Unleavened Bread

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