Question: What is the essence of the connection between faith and the “covering of the Sukkah” (Schach)?

Answer: Schach and faith are one and the same. If they are the same thing, what connection can there be between them? If they were two different things, I would explain the connection between them, but this is simply one and the same phenomenon. We are not speaking at all about a material roof made of plants. When we speak of the covering of the Sukkah, we are referring to the screen that a person builds above his head.

Schach symbolizes things that were once alive and growing, but have now died, things that have reached the end of their life cycle. A person once enjoyed these things, but now they are dead to him; the spirit of life has departed from them. In his eyes, they have lost all importance and are entirely unsuitable for his advancement. He then takes these things, which have no importance for him anymore, and raises them above his head.

The Schach is constructed of objects that have practically no use: scraps of wood, leaves, and branches that cannot be used for anything other than perhaps burning them to heat a little water. What else can be done with these objects? It is impossible to build something from them. The covering of the Sukkah is not made from standard building material, such as solid timber. There are specific laws concerning this.

When a person raises things that have no importance according to the perceptions of his desire to receive above his head, it means that he is proceeding by faith above reason. Then the Schach is faith, while his knowledge is located inside the Sukkah.

A person is ready to work with his knowledge, which is smaller than his faith, or to use it only in accordance with the measure of his faith. This is called having his entire vessel of reception under the cover of the decision not to receive for himself, under the cover of the Schach, the screen. Then a person sits in the shade of the Sukkah, whose shade must be greater than the sunlight entering it. There must be so little sunlight in the Sukkah that it is almost imperceptible.

Today, we cover the Sukkah with thin slats. Rabash made sure that they were placed so closely together that almost no light could enter through them. It was not a matter of seeing the sky or the stars, only the faintest trace of light. I once asked why. It looked almost like a house. The roof was unattractive, but it was truly a roof. I was told that this was the custom: to make it very dense.

This is one of the symbols indicating the immense power and strength of the canopy, the force of mercy. This is what one must be concerned with rather than the amount of light filtering through the roof.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

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Question: Is faith always the most important thing that a person must attain first?

Answer: It is not merely the most important thing. Faith is the only thing we must attain, and nothing else besides it. “The righteous will live by his faith.” Besides the screen and the reflected light, the light of Bina, in which the Ohr Hochma (the light of wisdom) is clothed, there is nothing else. Therefore, this is the only thing we should be concerned with.

What is the connection here with the holiday of Sukkot? After a person has passed through the period of the exodus from Egypt and received the Torah, through its light he sees himself as weak and contemptible in his original qualities, with which he was created.

In this way, he attains a full awareness of his soul, which is represented by Yom Kippur (the Day of Judgment), and approaches the stage of his correction called Sukkot. Sukkot is Schach (the covering of the Sukkah), and Schach is the screen and reflected light.

What does “Tzel” (shadow) mean? “In His shadow I sat, and I delighted…” To delight while sitting in the shade means to delight in bestowing upon the Creator, rather than in the Light that comes without being clothed in the shadow, that is, without being clothed in the light of Bina.

These are all symbols. In essence, we should see this in every commandment and in every matter: There is nothing besides the light, the Kli, and the screen between them; everything, in essence, comes down to one thing.

Sometimes, when we do not understand very well what is being discussed, we begin to enter into the details of a commandment. In general, such a major commandment as Sukkot, which is equal in importance to all the other commandments, is more or less clear, and all the actions involved in carrying it out can easily be imagined.

However, there are commandments that speak of particular corrections of the Kli during the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), of attaching the ascending AHP de Aliyah, when one makes a correction on Yesod rather than on Malchut, and so on. Here, the problem arises of how to accurately grasp all kinds of particular states. But in general, the essence of all spiritual actions, which are called commandments, is the correction of the screen. The size of the screen is called the measure of faith, and through faith one receives knowledge, the revelation of the divine.

The revelation of the Creator can also occur before faith appears, in order to give birth to it. This is called, “Know the Creator, your Almighty and serve Him.” We need the revelation of the Creator also because in this way the screen manifests within us and is built. If we ask the Creator to reveal Himself for this purpose, it happens, and a person, bowing before the Creator, submits to Him. This submission is our screen.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

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On Yom Kippur, a confrontation takes place between the entire Kli (vessel), which is revealed in all its egoistic depth, and the light that must correct and fill this Kli.

Therefore, on Yom Kippur, a person does not eat, drink, or wash, has no marital relations, and does not anoint himself with oils, because oil symbolizes the light of Hochma, the body symbolizes the desire to receive, and the external reception of the light of Hochma symbolizes the process called Sikha—smearing or anointing. It is also forbidden to wear anything made of leather, because leather is considered a covering, an external garment, whereas at this time everything is exposed; there is not yet an external Kli.

A person has internal and external Kelim. The internal Kelim were formed in one during the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet). These are the Kelim for the lights of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama. But for Haya and Yehida, for the light of Hochma, there are external Kelim, the Levush ve Heichal (garments and a house, walls).

We have three qualities that exist together within us: Shoresh, Neshama, and Guf (root, soul, and body). In addition, there is a garment over us and walls around us that we build as our own.

Garments and walls also exist in the material world because of the imperfection of our Kelim. If we were internally complete, we would not need clothing, as Adam HaRishon did not, nor walls, that is, any space in which a person resides.

These categories, these Kelim, would exist within us. But now we partially compensate for their absence through clothing and through a house. All this results from the defectiveness of our Kelim, from human imperfection. After correction, this gradually enters within a person, and he no longer needs either garments or a house.

The light that comes to us on Yom Kippur shows us how imperfect our Kli is; all its negative qualities are revealed within it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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What does it mean that the Torah (from the word Horaah, instruction or method) is acquired? Everything is done only through light and vessels; there is nothing else. When one receives the light that can gradually correct the vessels, it is necessary that this light and the Kelim not simply exist as two things opposite one another, but that the light first enter the Kelim and impart its qualities to them.

This occurs after the upper light called Moses (from the word “Limshoch,” to draw, to pull egoism from below upward toward the light) descends. Moses embodies the aspiration of all a person’s qualities to be corrected and to attract the upper light to themselves. That is, after Moses draws this light to himself, since the soul initially possesses only a single quality, the point in the heart, the soul must undergo a shattering.

We know that every connection begins with the breaking of the Kelim (vessels). Subsequently the qualities of the light enter the qualities of the Kelim and establish a connection between them. Only afterward, through a different light, the light of correction, do the sparks of the light that fell into egoism during the shattering begin to align the ego with themselves and correct it.

Thus, the breaking of the Kelim must take place. Moses receives the Torah and descends with it from the mountain to the remaining qualities (the people) while they are making the golden calf. Moses symbolically breaks the tablets; that is, the light enters the vessel, and the breaking occurs.

The process of the breaking of the Kelim had already occurred in the world of Nekudim and with Adam HaRishon. Now the same thing is happening. It is one and the same process without which there would be no connection between the light and the Kelim. The light breaks these vessels.

This takes place on the 17^th of Tammuz. Moses breaks the tablets and the light enters the vessel. Then some time passes until the first of Elul, a new month, followed a month later, after the new moon, by the New Year (Rosh Hashanah).

This means that Moses again ascends Mount Sinai and receives the second tablets. In other words, the light within the vessel is processed again, and it again becomes possible to rise and ask for the light of correction. When the light of correction descends upon a person, they begin to see themselves within this light.

Once again, just as the first time, Moses remains in contact with the light for 40 days, at the level of Bina. Then he descends, meaning that the light begins to pass through to all the remaining qualities, to the entire people.

The descent of the light to Malchut and their complete opposition is celebrated among us as Yom Kippur. Through the shattering of the soul, a person begins to understand that they do not have a single good quality, and that everything must be corrected. But they learn this because within every egoistic quality of the soul there are already sparks of light that fell during the breaking when the light first entered. Now a second light shines, the light of correction, akin to the second tablets.

There is a difference between the first and second tablets, just like there is a difference between the First Temple and the Second Temple. Here, another light descends, the light of correction. It no longer needs to break the vessels, enter them, and mix with them. Instead, it must shine from afar and gradually correct the vessel. It possesses different qualities.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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We celebrate Rosh HaShanah (the head of the year) based on two aspects.

On one hand, we thank the Creator for having made us exactly as we are and for determining everything concerning us precisely in this way. In doing so, we acknowledge His authority over us, as the King over the entire earth. This is one aspect of Rosh HaShanah, which is called “accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven.” It concerns the initial, primordial qualities, (the gene and the ways of its development) embedded in a person. This is what takes place in the soul.

And on the other hand, we thank the Creator for leaving a major part of our development in our hands and for providing the opportunity to study His actions (“from Your actions we shall know You”) to reach an understanding of Him, to know Him, to draw closer to Him, to become similar to Him, and to attain adhesion with Him.

In essence, it is not important to us that we determine our fate, learn from Him how to perform corrections upon ourselves, and know by which path we need to come to correction. It is not even important to me whether I advance toward the final correction by a good, pleasant, short, and certain path or choose the closest path out of the two possible ones: the short path, or the long one.

What is important to me is that, by doing so, I thereby become similar to the Creator, and enter into adhesion with Him. This, in essence, is what it means to bring contentment to the Creator.

Thus, the celebration of Rosh HaShanah has two meanings for us. On the one hand, the Creator brings us into existence with those inner qualities that He determines. This means that He rules over us. On the other hand, He has also given us the opportunity to learn from Him how best to advance and to assume various correct forms according to our study and our own choice. As a result, we learn to become similar to Him and attain adhesion with Him.

All of this is contained in the holiday of Rosh HaShanah. That is why it is called the “head of the year.” Beyond this, there is nothing else left for a person to do. We now see that both in the material sphere, and afterward in the spiritual sphere—it does not matter whether we are in one of these dimensions or in both at the same time—such an attitude toward oneself and toward one’s surroundings, toward the world, essentially includes the entire process and all the forms through which a person passes.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/26, Baal HaSulam , Shamati 122 “Understanding What Is Written in Shulchan Aruch”

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One of the powerful symbols of Yom Kippur, clearly pointing to the mission of the people of Israel, is the story of the prophet Jonah. A prophet is a person who has revealed the higher force to such an extent that he can seemingly speak with it.

The Jewish prophet Jonah receives a special task from the Creator: to go to the non-Jewish city of Nineveh, which is immersed in vices and crimes, and bring its inhabitants back to the Creator, that is, to love and unity.

Since the time of Abraham, the Jewish people have been given the mission of being a “light to the nations.” Although this small group left Babylon for the land of Canaan, it was clear that it would eventually have to return to Babylon in order to unite all its inhabitants.

The people of Israel left Babylon only to learn the method of unification. Then this small group was to return to Babylon and work on uniting it. Just as Abraham once worked to unite the Jewish people, the people who received his method were expected to work on uniting all of Babylon, that is, all humanity, and bring it to solidarity and unity. This is what it means to be a light to the nations, to those who remain divided from one another.

Jonah received this task from the Creator, but did not want to fulfill it, and he fled. He boarded a ship that set out to sea. A strong wind, heavy rain, and a storm began, threatening to sink the ship. The sailors (described here as the Creator’s angels) realized that everything was happening because of Jonah. He did not deny it and agreed that they should throw him overboard. He understood that he was responsible for what was happening and had to save at least those who could still be saved.

Jonah finally accepted the Creator’s assignment when he saw that people were suffering because of him and could perish. He decided to save them even at the cost of his own life, hoping that the sea would calm if he were thrown into it. In the sea, a huge fish swallowed him, and he lived inside it for three days, reflecting on his actions and regretting that he had acted against the program of creation and had failed to help humanity reveal a beautiful, eternal world, a life of paradise for everyone.

He deeply regretted fleeing from his mission. After three days, the fish brought Jonah ashore, directly near the city of Nineveh. Jonah entered the city, conveyed the Creator’s warning to its inhabitants, and taught them how to relate to one another. The Creator gave him the power to persuade them. The people of Nineveh united and stopped fighting, killing, and deceiving one another. Nineveh became a beautiful city whose inhabitants attained the Creator, eternity, and perfection.

According to tradition, the story of the prophet Jonah is considered especially important, and many people are willing to pay large sums for the privilege of having it read publicly during the Yom Kippur ceremony. People believe that this brings good fortune.

Indeed, if the people of Israel fulfill their mission toward the nations of the world, and, first and foremost, toward themselves, if they recognize their responsibility and show everyone an example of positive unity, the entire world will also unite and reach a happy life, the promised shore.

Everything depends on the way the people of Israel relate to one another, on establishing peace and love among themselves, which can become an example for the entire world, a light for the other nations. This is what Yom Kippur teaches us.

If the people of Israel fulfill their mission, the whole world will reach a day that will be “like Purim” (Ke Purim): the most joyful holiday, when one may drink “until one no longer distinguishes the difference” between this world and the upper world, and everyone will live an eternal and perfect life.

Everything depends on the people of Israel accepting this mission and learning from the wisdom of Kabbalah how to fulfill it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 626 – Yom Kippur: Self And Social Realization” 10/8/16

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Question: What do you recommend thinking about on Yom Kippur?

Answer: Let us think about the story of the prophet Jonah and the obligations of the Jewish people. Reading this story is the culminating point of Yom Kippur.

Perhaps then we will understand that it is worth paying any amount of money, our entire fortune, for the opportunity to practically realize this story in our lives.

Question: The prophet Jonah found it very difficult to realize that he was responsible for all human suffering. How can we arrive at such a difficult conclusion?

Answer: This is possible only through the explanations provided by the wisdom of Kabbalah. The Torah and the entire Pentateuch speak about the same thing, but they express it in such allegorical language that it is difficult for a person to understand, let alone implement.

Our evil, egoistic nature is so stubborn and fiery that stories alone cannot tame it. Only when we begin practically uniting in groups, like those formed by us throughout Israel and in more than one hundred other countries, do we plant the seeds from which an increasingly strong connection between people can develop.

I very much hope that we will manage to stop the negative trend and turn it into a positive one. Therefore, on Yom Kippur, it is worthwhile to reflect on the need for us to unite. This should be done not only to achieve a good, secure, and prosperous life in Israel, but also to bring this well-being to the entire world.

On this holiest day of the year, we hear from the Creator the message of the mission entrusted to us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 626 – Yom Kippur: Self And Social Realization” 10/8/16

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The period from the beginning of the year (Rosh Hashanah) until the Day of Judgment (Yom Kippur) is called the Days of Awe. But in fact, everything depends on our sensation. Even the most mournful days, such as the ninth of Av, which symbolizes tragic events that happened in the history of the Jewish people in the past, will become the very best days in the future.

Therefore everything depends on what a person lives by. If he lives in the past, as many do because they know nothing about the future, then these are Days of Awe for him. But the science of Kabbalah, which is entirely directed toward the future, speaks of these days as the most beautiful and kind. The New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is the beginning of good changes.

The period of repentance preceding the beginning of the new year is needed for awareness of our evil nature, which we must correct. The most suitable time for correction arrives, thanks to which we come to goodness.

After Rosh Hashanah comes the Day of Judgment, Yom Kippur, when a person judges himself, and clarifies how he can attain the degree of the Creator—the state of the upper force beyond which nothing better exists. He examines what must be corrected in order to attain this corrected and exalted state.

As a result, the holiday of Sukkot arrives. After all the clarifications and the request for correction, we begin to build the soul. The Sukkah symbolizes the common soul of Adam HaRishon, which we are all parts of.

If we gather together under the roof of the Sukkah, beneath one covering, and cover all transgressions with love, then we reveal the “Joy of the Torah” (Simchat Torah). We unite so completely that the upper light, called Torah, fills us and brings us to correction.

These days are called the Days of Awe, but their awesomeness derives from their greatness. As it is said about the Creator, He is “great and awesome,” not because of a threat, but because of reverence before His exaltedness.

Before Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to wish one another a good year and a good inscription in the Book of Life. But most importantly, we need to understand that if we unite, and cover all transgressions with love, then this year will truly be good for us.

And this connection must be achieved not once a year before the holiday, but daily—by coming closer to one another in spirit day by day, until we feel such closeness of heart that we have become like one person with one heart.

Then we will feel the upper force, the common nature that fills our common heart. That will truly be a happy new year.
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From KabTV’s “World, Jewish holidays”

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Question: Why is the New Year considered the beginning of a judgment upon oneself?

Answer: Before the New Year, there is a period of time (ranging from a week to a month depending on the community) when a person examines all their past states, repents, cries, and asks for help from above.

By doing this, they seem to soften their heart so that it changes from stone into living flesh.

This is a tradition, and the main thing here is for a person to begin understanding that they must relate to life in a new way.

Question: So, is this about good deeds that he should begin performing in the New Year?

Answer: Good deeds are one’s own correction, because by correcting yourself, you correct the world. By building a system of mutual inclusion and unity in which the Creator is revealed, you must thereby draw all matter toward correction: the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and most importantly, human levels.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh HaShana” No. 1

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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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