The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:4 – 23:8: These are the Lord’s appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, in the afternoon, [you shall sacrifice] the Passover offering to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Cakes to the Lord; you shall eat unleavened cakes for a seven day period. On the first day, there shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall not perform any work of labor. And you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord for a seven day period. On the seventh day, there shall be a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor.

Question: Why is it forbidden to work on the first and last days of Passover?

Answer: It is because we distinguish between two states in the spiritual work: awakening from below and awakening from above.

During the awakening from below we evoke the cooperation between the light and the vessel by our yearning. The light corrects the vessel and gives it the right intention. During the awakening from above, this work is fulfilled from above but only because we have created all the right conditions for it in advance.

We make efforts, and thus create the right conditions for the first and last days of the holiday since the week of Passover has to be closed at its ends by states in which we don’t do anything since the upper light does all the work. The first day of the holiday is the beginning of the exodus from Egypt. The last day is the end of the exodus that seals it.

It is important to say that the nations of the world have different calendars. The Christian calendar is based on the movement of the sun. The Muslim calendar is based on the movement of the moon. While the Jewish calendar takes the movement of the sun, the moon, and the earth into account since the earth is the central object between the sun and the moon.

On one hand we take the year into account, which means the revolution of the earth around the sun, and on the other hand we take the month into account, the revolution of the moon around the earth, and compare the two. Thus the Jewish calendar doesn’t change and so, for example, we can calculate in advance which day of the week will be the first day of Passover in another 35 years.

What is more, based on the comparison between the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon, we can say that Passover cannot be on certain days of the month. This means that everything is accurately related to the general astrological system.

Question: The Torah refers to holy assemblies several times. Why do we have to gather in Passover?

Answer: Holy assemblies during Passover are the most important thing for the Israeli nation since it is actually thanks to their desire to unite that they need to come out of Egypt.

A person’s union with a group of people, with the society, with the nation, or with the whole world is actually different levels of the exodus from Egypt (from the ego). When we attain the force of unity, a certain tension, this exodus, the detachment from the ego, takes place.

It is always among us, separating us and making us feel repulsed by one another. If we begin to compress and condense it, try to unite and connect to one another, then the exit from the ego begins the moment we first attain unity.

On the first day of Passover (the exodus from Egypt) we begin to tighten this connection. Then we work on it during the week and totally unite on the last day of the exodus from Egypt. From that moment on we are a united nation.

But in the meantime, people don’t understand what they should do, although there is a direction that spurs the desire to escape from the ego, it is merely an animalistic instinct without the proper awareness. People will acquire the recognition when they gather at the foot of Mount Sinai.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/28/14

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Spiritual roots also have an influence on their material branches. Everything is determined by the order of dissemination of the forces of light, which affect our material, the desire to receive pleasure. There is a special periodicity and causality in the affect of these lights.

They have a mechanism, which puts into gear and controls everything from the head of the World of Atzilut. From there, from Arich Anpin, Aba ve Ima, YESHSUT, and ZON, which exist in special relationships to each other, we receive changes, which are called: year, month, week, days, minutes, nights, as well as many different more internal states. We are talking about qualities and the combination of qualities, which have a great influence on this world.

If a person wishes to connect himself to the spiritual root and to place himself under a greater influence of the upper light, in order to become closer to it, then one must use these periods of a special influence on us from above. If one wishes to ascend spiritually, then during such periods in our world, which are called holidays, he needs to unite with the intentions that pertain to such influences.

In ARI’s book, The Gates of Intentions, he explains how a person should act during such special periods of influence on our world, as Rosh HaShana, Sukkot, Pesach (Passover), Shavuot, and so on. If we are talking about Pesach (Passover), then its most significant characteristic is the light of Hassadim. When a person receives the light of Hassadim for the first time in his life, he acquires the quality of bestowal and rises above his ego.

Therefore, it pays for us to think more about the upper light, which, at this time, has a greater power to raise us above our egoism and to keep us above it, in the quality of bestowal. Subsequently, we will already be able to advance further and to feel the spiritual world with all its details.

Thus we should spend all the days of Pesach thinking about the unification between us and the upper light, which raises every one of us above his personal egoism. This needs to be our main intention over the course of the whole holiday.
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From a lesson on Rabash’s article “The Connection Between Pesach, Matza, and Maror“

The holiday of Pesach stands at the head of all holidays and all times in the spiritual process because it symbolizes the transition from the desire to receive for oneself to the desire to bestow, or more precisely, from the desire to receive for one’s own sake to the desire to receive for the sake of bestowing. This is why Pesach is so important. It marks the entry into the spiritual world, into the sensation and understanding of spirituality.

Before this, a person goes through many stages starting from his natural state of being immersed in the desire to enjoy, often without even realizing it. Then, he begins to ask, “What am I living for?” That is, mere animalistic existence no longer satisfies him, and he wants to understand the meaning of life, its source, cause, and purpose. An animal does not ask such questions; this is the beginning of the birth of a human being.

The entrance into spirituality begins when a person suddenly feels that he can no longer think only about himself and wants to act outside his egoism. Pesach (Passover) symbolizes the entry into a new world, the start of a new stage—Lishma—the beginning of bestowal, faith, and attaining the quality of Bina, according to which we begin to work.

Only when a person feels and understands that he is incapable of acting for the sake of bestowal can he be considered to be in exile. This is exile from the quality of bestowal, which he wants to attain but cannot. Only this determines the measure and severity of the exile.

Humanity is divided into three parts. The first part consists of those in whom the point in the heart has already awakened which leads a person to Kabbalah or compels them to seek it. The second part still does not understand the purpose of any of this.

And the third part fights solely for material actions without touching the intention; meaning, they strive to preserve the intention for their own sake. Based on this, humanity can be divided into many groups, nations, and various movements.

The Egyptian within me convinces me that the main thing is to perform the actions that the Torah demands without paying attention to the intention, i.e., to focus solely on material commandments.

If I do not question the results of my work, it means I am an Egyptian; that is, I am acting according to the Egyptian within me. But if I begin to care about the intention, then I discover that I am in Egypt as a slave, in exile from the spiritual world.

There is a spiritual reality where everything is done for the sake of giving, while I remain in my egoism. The extent to which this troubles me, more or less determines my place in the spiritual process. Until I reach a state where such a life feels worse than death, and I feel I must escape from the egoistic intention. That means I am already on the threshold of liberation, on the way out of Egyptian exile.
My inner Egyptians hold me back and persuade me to keep going as before, saying everything is fine: the action is what matters, and intention is irrelevant. If I agree with this, I become an Egyptian.

But if an inner struggle over intention begins within me, I realize I am under the control of the Egyptians, and I want to break free from this slavery. I understand that what matters is not the action but the intention, and that I must rid myself of the intention for my own sake. This means I need the light that brings back to the source (the reforming light) and an escape from Egypt.

I am ready for anything as long as I do not remain in the egoistic intention. I need nothing but the ability to carry out this act. I have already detached from the intention for myself although I have not yet reached the intention to bestow. I still don’t know what true bestowal is or to whom to bestow, but I am already on the way out.

The transition from being an Egyptian to becoming Israel means that I no longer have the strength to act. I don’t want to act for the sake of egoism, but I do not yet know how to act for the sake of bestowing, and so I am left not knowing what to do.

This is how the exodus from Egypt happens. It is in total darkness, when we are lost and unsure of our next step, and then salvation comes.

It is said that the work of the Egyptians is done with white bricks, spotless, without a single blemish or speck of dirt. If each day I egoistically add another brick to my work, I build a beautiful, snow-white structure, without any impurity or trace of doubt, and feel completely righteous.

Egyptians in Egypt cannot have any awareness of evil because they simply follow the example set by the rest of the world. What more could a person need?

These are the seven years of plenty, when a person is fully engaged in the work of Egypt, confident in their own righteousness and success. He does not even realize he is acting out of egoism. That realization only comes as a result of the influence of the reforming light, which subtly illuminates bit by bit, gradually advancing the person.

“Penny by penny, a great fortune accumulates.”

When there is no strength left to work, only one thing remains—prayer. Turning to the Creator solves all problems. After all, the purpose of everything that happens to us is to compel us to connect with the Creator.

In Egypt, we acquire all kinds of means and methods of connection with the Creator. For every difficulty that Egypt places before us, we must find the answer through a new form of connection with the Creator.

The heaviness of the work depends solely on the intention. If the intention is for the Creator, for the sake of bestowal, then you soar as if on wings and feel no burden in the work. It is as if you have left Earth’s gravitational pull and are floating in space.

But if the work feels heavy, it means you are carrying the wrong suitcase and are not aimed toward the Creator.

We receive the influence of the Creator through the entire shattered soul of Adam HaRishon. The Creator perceives the whole soul as one. For now, I may have a personal, very limited connection with the Creator, but even that comes to me through the collective soul.

“The upper light is in absolute rest,” meaning it fills the collective Kli. But I receive connection with the Creator to the extent that I am connected with the collective soul.

Let’s say I connect with one out of twenty billion souls, then to that extent I receive contact, which always flows through the common connection.

The Creator is within all creations in a perfect state since all have already reached the end of correction, and I connect to that state.

What is the difference between Matza and bread? Matza is also bread, but it is called the “bread of poverty” and is made only from flour and water. And even the water is added in minimal amounts. You cannot make bread without water, so just enough is used to knead the dough without letting it ferment.

This is a sign that we are not yet capable of working with our desires for the sake of bestowal, but we also no longer want to work for the sake of receiving. It is an in-between state neither here nor there.
Matza symbolizes filling in order to escape.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/19, Writings of Rabash “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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Question: The exodus from Egypt is the last material frontier of the egoistic world. Beyond it there is a conditional line, where after crossing, a person begins to feel love and bestowal of the Creator.

What is this transformation that we are undergoing?

Answer: This is the last correction, which is called the final correction (Gmar Tikkun).

It occurred when a group of Kabbalists led by Moses exited Egypt, united with the Creator, received the Torah on Mount Sinai, and thus attained their final correction.

In other words, all this has already happened. Today, we, under no circumstances, need to go to Mount Sinai and climb it. The only thing we have to do is to be internally and spiritually ready for unity in the movement from heart to heart.

Then, we will feel the state called one nation in one heart. That is where history leads us. Everything that happens in the world is only necessary for us to complete it. We live in the happiest time.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/24, Writings of Rabash “When Pharaoh Sent the People”

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In order to come to the state of “Passover,” (Pesach) we must reach such a level of development where we are unable to work with egoism; we need to rise above it.

The outburst of egoism happened for the first time in Babylon. Against this eruption that took place when the population was not large, Abraham, a priest of ancient Babylon, discovered the system of ascent above egoism.

Several thousand people accepted this method, and they went together with him to the land of Canaan, present-day Israel. Abraham taught his followers what it meant to be in love with each other, rising above the ego and constantly stepping over one’s ego—Pesach (from the word Pasach, to pass).

Our ego is growing constantly, and we are growing above it, covering it by the law of “… love covereth all transgressions.” Transgressions remain, but, the greater they are—up to immense hatred—the greater love appears between us.

We do not hide our hatred, are not ashamed of it, because we understand that it comes from human nature, and our task is to identify in nature the next, positive force that will give us the opportunity to cover hatred with love.

Then, we will be in a constant state of spiritual elevation. However, hatred will determine the height of the love with which we cover it.

It turns out that we can continue to grow constantly. That is, each transition from stage to stage will become Passover (Pesach), the holiday that is always with you.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations about Passover,” 3/18/15

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The holiday of Passover symbolizes the beginning of correction. Everything begins with the exodus from Egypt after which the giving of the Torah takes place.

Corrections are possible only in a person who has already gone through the Egyptian exile. The creation begins with the sin of the Tree of Knowledge and the shattering of the soul, and then the process of its correction begins.

Therefore, it is clear that first of all, we need to recognize the evil, to clarify the state in which we found ourselves after the shattering at the Tree of Knowledge where the soul was divided into many parts that we now need to assemble together. And this is despite the egoistic will to receive, which so far rules between us.

Thus, we add to the soul, which we are restoring, all of the revealed evil inclination, that is, the force of the light that once filled the soul and caused the separation of each part from the rest. When we connect them together again, working against the force of the light that was filling the soul and now has become hostile to it, we attain the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of the corrected creation.

However, all this begins with the recognition of the wickedness of the state in which we are now, with the revelation of the egoism that reigns between us: rejection, hatred, misunderstanding, and clarification to what extent everyone is immersed only in himself and is not able to get out of there. All this is the very first and necessary stage on the path of studying the Creator.

All the articles about Passover we should perceive only in relation to our separation and connection. When we move away from each other, evil forces rise up and reveal the feeling of exile in us.

Then immediately we can talk about connection and correction, and redemption begins. That is, we need to see everything in the light of exile and redemption, distancing and coming closer to each other, the revelation of the shattering and its correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/18

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Darkness is the Median (Babylonian) exile, which the people of Israel brought upon themselves because the Creator (Zeir Anpin) fell into slumber.

And the sinner Haman, a great astrologer, cast lots (Pur) to determine fate.

For Haman and his ten sons represent the ten Klipot (impure forces), and therefore he knew that the Creator was asleep and that His higher governance was not protecting the people of Israel (those who seek the Creator).

Thus, Haman thought that the time had come to destroy the people of Israel.

Haman represents all our desire to receive, which stand in opposition to the entire light of Hochma, and he knows that this light must now be revealed.

He just doesn’t know that this can happen only through the middle line, and then it is canceled, which leads to the transition to the state of the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph).

Malchut unites with Zeir Anpin in the middle line, they ascend to Bina and reach the state of the end of correction.

To destroy the people of Israel means to destroy the intention for the sake of bestowal, which prevents receiving the light of Hochma egoistically.

Mordechai represents the intention to bestow, but if he acts alone, without Haman’s desires, then it is merely bestowal for the sake of bestowal, meaning he blocks the light of Hochma and does not allow it to be revealed.

If a person does not work in the middle line, then even their best actions of bestowal close the path of development. This is why Mordechai must be connected with Haman.

When the conflict begins between them, between the intention to bestow and the egoistic desire, it becomes clear how they can or cannot unite.

There is an intention for the sake of bestowal, through which Haman’s desires can be used, but these desires themselves will not be fulfilled. This is why the confrontation between Haman and Mordechai occurs. It is about how a person can create the right connection between two opposing forces, opposite intentions—what battles, confusion, and doubts await us on the path of correction until we find the right method.

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Ester) tells us about this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/10, Writings of Rabash, Assorted Notes from Dargot HaSulam

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Question: What is this special unity that we must achieve in the attack before Passover and during Passover itself?

Answer: It is when we connect with each other, draw closer to the Creator, and demand that He shines light upon our request for unity. In this way, we unite and form a single group out of all of us.

Then we will feel what true unity means and what the force that is within us but has not yet manifested between us means. I would really like for us to achieve this.

Question: You said that we must continue the exercises for unity until we receive a clear response to our effort, to our prayer. What does it mean to receive a response to our effort?

Answer: It means that we will feel how each of us is under the pressure of many friends who push him or her and hold us close to them.

Let’s try to make this happen. I assure you that from above, you will receive everything you truly desire if you genuinely wish to exist in truth.

And one more thing I ask: it is essential to thoroughly understand the articles of Rabash. That is all. Good luck!
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From from the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/25, Writings of Rabash “Come unto Pharaoh – 1”

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We constantly forget that there is none else besides the Creator. This is done intentionally by the Creator, the one who governs everything. He changes the pictures that appear before us, and we forget that all of this is an imaginary world. It is called an imaginary world because it conceals the Creator from us.

The Creator hides behind the world we see around us. The inanimate, plant, and animal nature, and people, and a person himself with his inner world—all conceal the Creator from people. We must not forget this. And therein lies the problem. As Baal HaSulam writes, the greatest punishment for a person is when he disconnects from the Creator, i.e., the Creator Himself disconnects him, because the person does nothing on his own.

Therefore all our work consists of constantly remembering that there are the Creator and the person, and between them is this picture of the imaginary world. A person should not erase this picture, but should relate it to the Creator. The Creator creates all these images before him, and the person must forcefully connect them to Him. The Creator does this so that the person can transform all these forms of concealment into revelations, and nothing more.

We have no other work. In all our lives, in everything that exists, we must turn concealment, when the world hides the Creator from me, into revelation. This concealment comes only from the Creator, and I must relate all these images to Him.

The inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and especially humans are all just puppets, marionettes, various images that have no freewill in relation to me, and they have no independent reality.

In the end, they are all just a wrapper in which the Creator is wrapped so that I may reveal Him precisely through it. If I manage to penetrate through this wrapper, to each time relate it to Him, to understand that it is Him who is playing with me, and it is Him who is doing all this, then this wrapper transforms from concealment into revelation.

We must constantly hold on to this and strengthen each other in such perception of reality. This is our main work. And then we will see that we are already directly working with the Creator, always trying to reveal “There is none else besides Him” and “The good who does good” in every obstacle He places between Himself and us.

We need to constantly live with this picture, with this perception, with the reality, we envision. And our work must always be in this direction. The pictures of the world should not enslave us and play with us so that we follow them. On the contrary, we always focus on the Creator, and the pictures of the world serve only to strengthen the connection between us and Him.

This is both a person’s individual work and his work through the group. The individual work is preparatory, and the work through the group is truly blessed; there, responsibility and mutual support are required.

Because after a person tries to recognize the Creator behind every obstacle, he encounters such diverse and complex obstacles that only with the help of the group does he acquire the correct approach to the Creator, who is within it. Then he begins to build within the group a system that reveals the Creator as acting in diverse forms on all the qualities, feelings, mind, and heart of the person.

There is a difference in “There is none else besides Him” in relation to an individual and in relation to a group. At the lower level, personal revelation is possible for an individual, but at the main levels, a person already feels that he needs the group, and it is the instrument through which he reveals the Creator in all His manifestations, i.e., in the ten Sefirot.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Purim

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Mordecai is righteous, whose work is only to bestow without any need to ascend in degrees, and he is content with little, while the king wished to give the light of wisdom, which extends from the left line, and Mordecai’s work was only from the right line.

What did the king do? He promoted Haman, meaning he made the left line important. This is the meaning of “and set his seat above all the ministers.” In addition, he gave him the control, meaning that all the king’s slaves kneeled and bowed before Haman, “for the king had so commanded,” that he would receive control, and everyone accepted him (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 37, “An Article for Purim“).

If a person is entirely in a state of bestowal, they do not consider that it might also be possible to receive for the sake of bestowal, because these qualities contradict each other. I am directed solely toward bestowal, away from myself, and that is all I desire. I take pleasure in bestowing and thinking about others, and in this state, my bestowal, action, thought, and desire—all the forces of my soul—are directed in one direction: from me outward, to the one to whom I bestow. This is how the quality of “Mordechai” within us is structured.

But if one seeks to reveal a person’s full capacity to bestow, then it is necessary to develop receiving desires within them so that they may receive for the sake of bestowal and thereby form a connection and mutuality between them and the Creator.

If I only bestow to someone, there is no real connection between us. It only seems that we are connected because I am within them, in their desires, but they are not within me! Therefore there is no true unity between us, which was the purpose of creation.

True connection is only possible if I also receive from the other to the same extent that I wish to bestow to them. Then a mutual relationship arises between us because connection is only possible between equals; whatever I receive, I also bestow!

However, if I receive for the sake of bestowal, to return fulfillment to the other, this action includes two opposing qualities: receiving, which brings pleasure, and bestowal, which seeks to bring pleasure to another. That is why our inner Mordechai, the quality of bestowal within us, does not understand how this is possible. We truly do not grasp it; it is an extremely elevated state.

So how can one be compelled to act in such a way and be drawn out of the balance provided by bestowal for the sake of bestowal, the attribute of Bina, which desires nothing for itself and only gives as much as possible? How can one be forced to even consider receiving, to integrate reception into bestowal? This is an incredibly complex and multidimensional process; it requires an entirely new approach, a profound internal transformation to understand how to work with it.

It is the result of a mutual connection between them, one that previously seemed impossible. That is why a powerful, external, and even cruel force is needed to completely overturn the previous approach of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” the method of Mordechai, to such an extent that the Mordechai within me feels annulled, powerless! I am no longer capable of bestowing for the sake of bestowal and instead fall into “impure desires” (Klipot), completely lost!

Only then, but not before, does this new approach emerge, the possibility of receiving for the sake of bestowal. As always, development follows all four phases until we reach the final resolution.

This is why so many different characters play a role in the Purim story, assistants to the King and Haman, and each represents aspects of this profound process.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Writings of Baal HaSulam “An Article for Purim“

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