Question: What is the difference between studying Rabash’s articles and The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)?

Answer: Every lesson should be divided into two parts. The first part involves spiritual work, feelings, attuning one’s thoughts to what should be sought, and focusing on the problem, on the goal. To this end, we first read the articles Rabash wrote for his students. Then we move on to TES after having been awakened by the article and realizing what we want from life, we approach the remedy, that which can help us achieve what we desire.

Thus, the first part is the analysis of the illness, and the second is the treatment. As I immerse myself in the article, I should experience joy, sadness, gratitude, and a request—a whole range of feelings. Mainly, these will be negative sensations regarding what I do not have, what I lack, what I have not yet attained, but desire to attain. These seemingly negative feelings are the revelation of the lack, the need.

Then, once I have that need and begin the study, I seek the one who will heal my illness: “the healer of all flesh.” I want the light that reforms to come. Now I have a basis for my study and  my approach is correct: I demand correction from the study.

Indeed, my study can yield nother other than correction! All this wisdom described here is completely “external,” directed only toward some connection with the material being studied at the animate level. Internally, however, a person must demand one thing: the correcting force.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Comment: In religious societies, things are coming to light that are no less bad than those found in secular society.

My Response: Ultimately, the will to receive bursts forth and grows unchecked. Then both religious and secular boundaries lose their significance for the person; they become unrestrained and frenzied.

Nothing can be done about this. Such things, of course, happen both here and there. But it is better to maintain at least something. Perhaps in ten years the conditions will change, but in our time, I think, it is worth it. The main thing is to minimize the damage.

Comment: But Baal HaSulam writes in several places that one who engages in the Torah in its external form causes the greatest damage. He warned about this before the Holocaust.

My Response: Baal HaSulam indeed writes at the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that one who engages in the external Torah and does not want to engage in the internal—not that he is unable, but precisely that he does not want to, neglects it, or hates it—causes all the damage, and brings about the worst things in the world. That is correct. But this does not mean that a person must distance themselves from the external Torah. He must engage in both the external Torah and Kabbalah.

Moreover, whether you like it or not, Baal HaSulam writes there as well that those who engage in the external Torah must begin to engage in the internal. He is not speaking about you, not about your guilt, not that you are causing the worst things in the world, not that you must begin to engage in the internal Torah. He is not speaking about you, but about them. Why?

You want to say the following: if they cannot engage in the internal part, then let them abandon the external as well, let them simply be secular; at least in this way we will harm no one. This will not help you. Already today, what they engage in cannot be called the external part in the true sense. Therefore the damage lies not in this, but precisely in the fact that they do not engage in the internal part.

Of course, it is easier to approach a completely secular person with a proposal to study Kabbalah. This will not work with a religious person. However, the problem lies in education, in millions of young people. If you completely free them from studying the Torah or from frameworks suitable for the people, nothing good will come of it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, Article 14, 1984 “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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The fact that the level of the people a hundred years ago differed from today’s illustrates a global regression across generations. For example, in the times of the destruction of the Temple, people were very pure. Even the destruction and hatred we speak of back then were then very subtle and pure.

Subsequently, over the course of two thousand years, the desire to receive has increased in every generation; people become more egoistic, and all this evil has surfaced, especially at the advanced stages, because the process develops, not arithmetically, but geometrically.

A leap occurred at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Educated people emerged. Why did they suddenly stop being religious? How could this happen? A desire to receive was added from above, which led to a new stage in the soul’s development, and the individual saw how hollow the restrictions dictating their actions and speech truly were.

Their inner part strengthened while their outer part weakened; they were unable to restrain themselves.They cast off these constraints. They were no longer content to remain at the still (inanimate) level of holiness. All this stems from the growing will to receive within the souls.

What is respected among ordinary religious people? A person who faithfully attends the synagogue, observes all the commandments, and presents himself to the public as free from any anxieties, as someone whose life consists of nothing but “simple faith.”

In religious circles such a person is deemed good, wonderful, or even holy. Yet we say that they lack the will to receive and are merely acting according to their nature. Add a bit of ego, a will to receive, and you will see them abandon it all. Thus, whether you like it or not, you cannot leave them as they were 500 or 2,000 years ago. The will to receive is growing, and nothing can be done about it.

Consequently each new generation is worse than the previous one, to the point that “the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog” that barks: “Give me! Give me!” It is impossible to resist this; it is bound to happen, and for now a process of searching and struggle is underway.

However, knowing what happened in the 20^th century allows you to foresee what will happen in the present one, what inner development will take place in people. You will see how with each year the world focuses increasingly on this direction, while everything else collapses. People will suddenly begin to sense that the entire world depends on their inner state.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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The root of the soul each of us possessed in Adam HaRishon lost its screen after the shattering, yet it continued to exist without it. In any case, even without the screen, it consists of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, the four stages of direct light, that must be present in every element of creation, in every desire.

Neither the individual stages nor their combination can be changed. This is impossible because this root represents my origin in Adam HaRishon—the essence of my “self,” my foundation. Anyone who attempts to fight this merely suppresses these elements. The most I can do is not use them.

All philosophies and other ancient methods that persist to this day teach a person how to forcibly master their natural properties so they might feel heroic in their own eyes. But this does not make them a true human being, because they are suppressing their natural qualities rather than transforming them.

These traits cannot be changed, as they lie beyond our control and are embedded in the very foundation of creation. In the past, people tried to change our natural qualities through upbringing, but now they are coming to the conclusion that upbringing should be free of excessive pressure and coercion. Although they proper application of this approach remains elusive, there is a growing understanding that force is ineffective.

When we observe negative traits in a young adult such as outbursts against society or hostility toward everyone and everything, it is often the result of their being pressured at an early age. Now all the “experts” recognize this, but they still have no method for dealing with it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?”

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Question: If a person has already embarked on the path of bestowal, how can they accelerate their development?

Answer: Read a lot. At first, they do not understand what the friends are, what the work is, or what is required of them at all. Sometimes people grasp this thanks to their nature, but for some, their nature is not suited to uniting and working with other people. There are people who are simply not adapted to this; by their character, they are more contemplative. Therefore, in the first stage, one needs to read a lot.

Nowadays, the process of development is accelerating, but nevertheless, during the first year a person should grind up various articles and letters of Baal HaSulam and Rabash within himself, , like a meat grinder, and absorb them and repeat them, in order to take in as much material as possible.

Let the person forget, not understand, and not reflect on it; he will reflect on it later, but at first, he is not capable of this. He simply needs to read what is written, open himself up, and fill himself with knowledge. Then it will begin to work within him. Through his initial aspiration, while reading the material, he already establishes a connection with the surrounding light, and when he gains sufficient experience in this—several months, half a year, a year—then he will begin to work well.

For some, it is better instead of all this reading to work in the society, but one is impossible without the other. It is necessary to vary them, and in what proportion depends on the person’s character. Both work for the benefit of the group and study should constitute a certain proportion with each other.

So development can be accelerated, especially at the beginning, by reading a great deal, and then, on the contrary, by working more and reflecting on why I am doing this. At later stages, one needs to work more for the society, because then we encounter difficult questions and problems, the overcoming of which helps us advance.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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After the destruction of the Second Temple, a few people remained, such as Rabbi Shimon, who began writing books and advising the nation on what they should do. They directed this nation that had disconnected from its spiritual level to adhere to a system based on physical actions corresponding to spiritual ones.

Previously, everyone prayed with a prayer of the heart; now,  a prayer book was written for them. Many things that did not exist before were now defined by instructions on how to act at the material level. It was necessary to define the boundaries of the “animal,” which no longer sensed the limits set by the spiritual world and was seeking its own enclosure—to provide a framework for its existence. This was done through the book Shulchan Aruch and other texts.

Thus, the situation that persisted for millennia can be described as the lesser evil. A person existing on the material level, who has no contact with spirituality and no perception of the surrounding light, naturally believes that nothing else is possible.

He thinks that by observing the Torah and the commandments, he is doing everything possible. Indeed, in a way, he is doing everything possible. He has no sense that any further correction is possible. Correction of what if the point in the heart has not yet manifested itself?

That is why some have one Torah and others have another. For some it is external, for others it is internal. When we speak about the inner part of the Torah, we are talking about why a person needs the Torah in the first place: either for internal correction, which is triggered by a point in the heart, or for external correction, which is prompted by the desire to know what to do with one’s hands and feet, and what words to say.

For example, you have a book about slander. Let us take just one stipulation: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and suddenly you need all these books and encyclopedias to know exactly what can be said in connection with this and what cannot.

The law, however, states one thing: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Make an effort to do this, that is all. What books could we be talking about? However, when moving from inner work to outer work, you must give each thing an external definition so that you know which forms of its manifestation are prohibited, then the amendments begin to multiply. Internally, there is only one law: the law of adhesion, of similarity of form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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When a person begins to study in a group, to listen, and to engage in dissemination, they must receive more surrounding light and begin to change. But Rabash said that this is extremely difficult.

That is why we need only people who possess a point in the heart. We do not need the whole world, only those specific points that we must draw out from across the world. Why should our network span the whole world? It is solely to reach all those special individuals scattered across the globe. Once the desire emerges, that is it, the person is ready to realize the Creator. If not, then not.

There are people who do not understand that a different kind of Torah can exist, unlike Rabbi Fisher who once said that I should be left alone and given the opportunity to search for what I was looking for since I could not be satisfied with what they were giving me.

If it had not been for Rabbi Fisher, I would have abandoned religion. As Elimelech said many years ago, were it not for Kabbalah, he would have become secular, for he found life utterly tedious without the attainment of spirituality. Religious people do not understand that if a person has a true desire for the attainment of spirituality, it is something much stronger than all other desires. They do not understand that the person simply cannot be otherwise. They want to confine him in a framework so that he remains at the same level.

I remember that I was given the Gemara and told, “Study this from morning until evening; this is the desire of the Creator.” I could not! I went to study for several months in Kfar Chabad, and read several tractates, but it is completely impossible to study them without some reaction from above.

Baal HaSulam and Agra wrote that one who hopes precisely for this, who awaits it, can be satisfied only by the wisdom of Kabbalah. In the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” it is written that one who feels that the Torah is dry for him should leave it, and try his luck in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The inanimate level cannot align with the vegetative. A plant is something that I cannot control; it slips through my fingers because it grows. It can not be held in the ground or kept close; it escapes.

Every movement of growth occurs because a person rejects, destroys, and cancels the previous state. Therefore the next degree comes. You will not be able to become a plant until you completely cancel the inanimate within you. And from there you begin to rise. The inanimate is your foundation, but on the other hand, you must constantly step over it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/26, Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”

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Question: What does it mean to engage in Torah and commandments?

Answer: Engaging in Torah and commandments (Mitzvot) with the help of the reforming light means doing everything described by Kabbalists who have attained Lishma. They advise us which actions can help us attain Lishma. For the time being, we call these actions Torah and commandments.

Lishma is the work with Masachim (screens) for the sake of bestowing upon the Creator, for the sake of His Name. Once I enter into work with Masachim, it becomes clear to me what Torah and commandments are. I already know which actions I can perform in my desire to receive that bring me closer to the Creator, that is, increase my intention to bestow. Then these actions are called commandments.

By correcting my desire to receive through the intention to bestow, I fill it with the light called Torah.

And now, while I am below the Machsom (barrier), my intention, although not yet very clear, is directed toward my desire to reach the beginning of true spiritual work, a genuine relation with the Creator, to bestow upon Him, to cross the Machsom, and acquire a Masach. I do not yet know exactly what this means, but I can somehow imagine it. Therefore, if I perform any action that the Kabbalists advise me to perform, this is called Torah and commandments.

And the actions that I perform with my body (with my feet, hands, or various objects) are the ones we must do within the framework of our corporeal world. They have nothing to do with spiritual work whatsoever. Therefore, I keep saying that they do not advance a person toward the Creator. They merely keep a person within the framework of the inanimate spiritual level (Domem de Kedusha).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?”

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1. A person is a new Kli, called the soul, which can be formed within us through study when the illumination that comes returns one to the source. That is, it builds the sixth sense within us, the desire for the Creator with the intention of bringing Him contentment through a screen.

There is no place here for the desires of other animalistic passions, upon which a screen cannot be built, regardless of what calculations one might make regarding their use. All this does not belong to the work of the Creator.

Therefore there are two opposite forms of Torah. One Torah teaches how to exist in this world, below the Machsom. This is called the general Torah, through which the masses are taught how to live better, how to be a good Jew, that is, what is commonly called being religious. Accordingly, one is taught to govern one’s qualities, to be kind and decent, to love the created beings, to guard one’s speech, and so on.

I do not reject this in any way. Those who have not yet crossed the Machsom and who do not yet have the intention to cross it, should indeed observe this. Such is the Torah for the masses, which prepares them to pass on to the individual Torah.

The individual Torah is intended for one who wishes to develop individually, that is, for a human being (“You are called ‘man’…”) above the Machsom, one who already possesses a new Kli.

The desire for the Creator is called a new desire, a new Kli with the intention for the sake of bestowal. Within it various disturbances that are directed against the Creator are awakened, called Klipot. Then all of one’s connection and all of one’s work are directed solely toward the Creator. And whatever is directed toward the Creator is called spiritual, and is called “man” (Adam).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born with Bad Qualities?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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