Our Kabbalistic upbringing and education are completely different from the upbringing of the public. Religion teaches a person simply to be well behaved, to get up and do, do, do.

Kabbalah, on the contrary, develops a person’s ability to analyze. A person begins to disagree with the Creator, to scold and curse the Creator, and wants to rebel against Him. Then he begins to understand where these qualities come from, compares his own qualities with the opposite qualities of the Creator, and gradually realizes what is preferable.

Then, first, he justifies the Creator; afterward, he wishes to be like Him, and finally, through opposite states, he himself becomes similar to Him. This is how a person develops. Therefore, “The view of the Torah is opposite to the view of the masses.” The populace is taught and educated in a way that is opposite to the Torah.

A person who comes here begins to receive an upbringing through which he becomes completely free of any frameworks, of all initial conditions, of everything. You must examine, analyze, and think through every possible state, fear nothing, and from all this choose the truth. Otherwise, you will remain an animal.
[358838]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?”

Related Material:
How Does the Torah of the Masses Differ from the Torah of the Individual?
Liberation
Two Levels Of The Torah

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The depth of spiritual attainment is determined by the depth of the corrected desire. With each new generation, increasingly coarser (more egoistic) souls descend into this world.

For this reason, the Kabbalists who lived before the ARI (16^th century) had a small ego and could not reveal the elements of creation in full detail, such concepts as the Masach (Screen), Tzimtzum Aleph, Tzimtzum Bet (the first and second restrictions), and Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light).

They worked with these spiritual forces, but their origin and actions were not yet fully clear to them. Consequently, they could not describe them with complete precision.

It is like seeing a picture and even being able to paint it while not knowing how colors are decomposed into a spectrum, what wavelength each color has, how those wavelengths affect us, and how they are perceived as sensations.

Without sufficient depth of desire, it is impossible to reach the underlying causes and explain how the light connects with the desire.

The ARI was the first to reveal the distinction and connection between the direct light and the reflected light due to the uniqueness of his soul in its full depth.

In addition, the era of the Messiah was beginning and souls requiring correction started to be revealed in the world.

Before that, came the period of exile during which the ego had not yet manifested itself in a form ready for correction.

Therefore, it is said that all the Kabbalists before the ARI explained Kabbalah primarily from the perspective of the direct light (the Kabbalah of the Ramak), whereas the ARI explained Kabbalah from the perspective of the reflected light (the Kabbalah of the ARI).

Baal HaSulam continued the ARI’s method and made it applicable for our generation.
[5206]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/9, Baal HaSulam, Letter 29

Related Material:
Legacy Of The Ari
Soul of the Ari: A Turning Point in Development
Ari: The Beginning Of Ascent

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study - No Comments →

The Study of the Ten Sefirot describes the construction of our soul. By studying it, I will learn exactly what is happening inside me, even though I do not feel it now. But I want to feel and understand it because if I connect with it, I will enter eternal life.

Therefore I must constantly develop the habit of thinking this way and listening—listening, and listening endlessly. Then during my studies I will not merely lack general knowledge, but I will develop the need to find out what is written about me in the book. Now I am reading a book about myself, not about some world separated from me by thousands of partitions.

There are no worlds outside of me; they all exist within me. Among my 620 desires, there are those that relate to one world, another, or a third world; that is how it is divided.

All 620 of my desires represent 620 degrees that I have to surmount, starting from my present state all the way to the final correction.

These 620 degrees are divided into five groups, each of which is hidden in a certain way, revealed by performing a certain action, filled with a certain light, and therefore each one is called a world. All these things are inside me. Outside of me is only Atzmuto, the essence of the Creator.
[359181]
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”

Related Material:
The Correct Intention During the Study of TES
TES: A Kabbalist’s Personal Diary
How To Feel The Study of the Ten Sefirot

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

When a person begins to study [Kabbalah], he suddenly discovers every time that they see new things in what we study. And this will always be the case.

Suppose you are sitting and reading an article right now, and I am sitting and reading the article, and then you ask me: “Well, can you tell me something?”

Why do I tell you more than you know? Because I read and see a bit more deeply than you. At the same time, I cannot transmit to you what I feel, and so I tell you in other words what I see.

For you it is open to a certain depth; for me it is open much deeper, and there are those for whom nothing at all is revealed. They may read the same article, but feel no reaction in the heart because they have no spiritual Kli, while yours is already beginning to form.

So what is the difference? The difference is that when I speak to you, I give you a bit of light from the depth where I am, and this helps you. In addition to the surrounding light that you awaken during the study, I also add from myself.

But the group can also add to you. Each one understands according to a certain depth because no one here is a random person off the street. There are those who are truly in a good, sensory understanding.

Therefore, when we study together with the intention of passing the incoming light to one another, these surrounding lights from each of us unite and act upon everyone. Do you understand what kind of amplifier of spiritual power there is here?

And it does not matter if each one knows very little, some more, some less. Even if I am here, and you know less than I do, each of you has his own root of the soul. So I enjoy this. From the inclusion of one in another, I receive an addition because there are things that, without you, I will not understand, and without this one, and without that one even though you might be a “0.001 compared to my 1 followed by some zeros.” It does not matter. Every person is unique.
[358793]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity in the Work?”

Related Material:
Reading A Kabbalistic Text
Connect to the Primary Sources
Different Perception of the Sources

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why does Rabash use words that are familiar to us in his articles?

Answer: Rabash cannot use other, unfamiliar words. It is not his fault that you get confused. The entire Torah consists of the names of the Creator. The light is clothed in the Kli (vessel), and the Kli receives perceptions from it regarding what He does and what properties He has.

For example, what does it mean: “As He is merciful, so should you be merciful”? As I improve my quality of mercy, I will feel that He is also merciful. This means that I have attained knowledge, the revelation of the holy name “merciful one.”

Thus, the entire Torah is the names of the Creator. The lights clothe themselves in me and give me a sense of who the Creator is because the Creator is the totality of light, while I receive this totality of light in portions according to the measure of my correction. As a result, once I have received the entire Torah, I thus feel the Creator. In the totality of all the lights, I fully feel Him. This is the essence of the commandments, the Torah, and the Creator. And the one who reveals them is called Israel.

The only that is said: “The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.” In other words, only about this is it written in all the holy books. Holy books are those written beyond the Machsom, which means “holy,” and refers to being separated from this world.

If you read the Torah as a novel that tells you what happened between men, women, and children, who went where, who killed whom, and what was done to them for it, that is your problem. We must read the Torah as the names of the Creator.

I was asked on the Internet today: “But it says that every week you have to read a weekly chapter from the Pentateuch with RASHI’s commentary: read the weekly chapter twice, and the commentary once.” By the way, there are many more in-depth commentaries, and you can include them. They are all written by great Kabbalists.

So what should I do, read or not read? I replied that there is a strict prohibition in the Torah: “You shall not make a graven image.” That is, do not imagine something material instead of spiritual. If you are imagining a historical novel as you read a weekly chapter, do not read it.

This is the strictest prohibition in the Torah because it makes it impossible to achieve spirituality. And do not worry. By violating it, you are not doing anything wrong or harming the Creator or the world. However, at the same time, you remain the “animal” that you are today. Therefore we must treat the Torah as the true names of the Creator, and then it will lead you to the goal.

Moses wrote the Torah in this language because he could not find another language. In all other languages—Haggadah, Midrash, Halacha, Kabbalah—it is much more difficult to express all the points and details he wanted to describe. This is almost impossible in other languages. That is why he chose this language, the language in which all stories are written.

Comment: There is a contradiction here. After all, we still keep the commandments and do everything necessary.

My Response: You are on Earth in an earthly body, therefore you fulfill the commandments: you apply Tefillin, Tallit, make a blessing, eat Kosher food, etc. If you were not in the body, you would not have the opportunity to perform these actions. But these are not the actions by which you attain the holy names. You attain the holy names by correcting desire, by putting a screen on it, and by receiving light into it. The light that reveals itself in the corrected desire is called the holy name.
[358642]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

Related Material:
Two Manifestations of the Creator
The Most Eluding Commandment
Two Levels Of The Torah

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Before every lesson, a person should think: What will I receive from this study? This inner preparation before the lesson should prepare him so that during the study he will be able to think correctly. This is possible. A person simply needs to accustom himself to it, and gradually it will become natural. There are many things we must do in a very simple, uncomplicated way, “like an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.”

Why have we been given reason and thought? To search and discover the one thing that is truly worth holding on to: to study, to examine what is happening to us. This study should lead us to the conclusion called the recognition of evil. I should not resist anything, nor should I force myself to do anything. That is of no benefit.

I need only pay attention to what the Creator is doing to me! From this, I gradually begin to understand: who I am, who He is, what He wants, why He arranges these things for me, and with what subtlety He does so. Through this, I slowly come to know nature.

Kabbalah is the study of nature, but in a broader sense. It includes the world of causes, where everything is conceived and prepared, and from there extends to our nature, to ourselves, and to our environment.

Thus, by studying ourselves, as it is said, “From Your actions we shall know You,” and “From my flesh I shall see the Creator,” we come to study the whole of reality.
[358790]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?”

Related Material:
“Buy” the Qualities of the Creator
Develop Yourself
A Book Is a Spiritual Matrix

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why is the connection of religious people with the Creator imperfect?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes at the end of Introduction to The Book of Zohar that the people of Israel do not belong to this world, and the Germans once felt this. Jews are not a nationality, not a people, but something irrational.

In the Torah, it is said that the Creator wanted to give the Torah to the other nations, but they did not want to accept it. Then He gave the Torah to the people of Israel, scattered us throughout the world, and sent us into four exiles so that we would intermix with other nations.

In exile, we fell to the level of the “nations of the world.” Now, we must correct ourselves so that the Galgalta Eynaim (GE) are corrected, and only then can we elevate the AHP to GE.

Baal HaSulam says that the entire nation of Israel is guilty of not fulfilling its mission in the world, of not realizing itself as a spiritual guide. But there are those who are more guilty and those who are less guilty.

And it is those who study only the outer part of the Torah, neglecting the inner part, who cause the greatest harm to the entire nation of Israel and to the world as a whole.
[358449]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

Related Material:
Becoming the Nation of Israel
Return to the Internal Part of the Torah
Internal And External Interpertations Of The Torah

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Israel, Kabbalah Study, Nations of the World, Religion - No Comments →

In our world there are people who engage only in external actions. No illumination from above reaches them, and they do not perform any inner actions. So, what is the difference between those who engage in inner actions and those who engage in external actions? The difference is very simple; it is their correspondence to Abraham.

Question: But where can you find a point of connection between our external and inner actions so that there is some logic to it?

Answer: If you perform actions with your body without any connection to spiritual corrections, like a good Jew who does what he was taught, then you establish correspondence on your own level: Domem deKedusha (the still level of holiness). You perform corrections, but since it is the still level of Kedusha, it does not give you the opportunity to grow. Nevertheless, they are corrections.

The light came from above, clothed in matter, and within this matter the spiritual replicated. Thus, in this world there are still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels, and on the speaking level there are people who are descendants of Abraham or Gerim (converts), whom we will discuss later.

Those who are on the still level possess sparks of Abraham that they do not develop; for example, the illumination from above that awakens one to spirituality has not yet come to them, and so, they perform correction on the still level of holiness.

It is still a correction; you cannot deny it. But neither can you live by it, that is, you cannot add anything to it, because the still level is characterized by the absence of spiritual life.

If you desire something more, then you must begin to add your own effort: take deficiencies as though from outside yourself, add your own contribution through the single point of free choice available to you, and thereby evoke an additional illumination from above, or absorb more of the illumination that comes to you. Then you begin to carry out the spiritual commandments, to work for the Creator.

You must distinguish between these two aspects, because Kabbalah is, in essence, work for the Creator. Otherwise, you observe the commandments simply as a person who was taught to do so. One does not contradict the other; both approaches are necessary.

However, to one who exists on the still level of holiness, it appears that you are negating that level, because for him only the first aspect matters; if something else is deemed important, then the first loses its significance.

We observe that those who truly begin to study the inner part begin to neglect the external part—to the point that a person who meticulously observed all the commandments, upon beginning the study of Kabbalah, suddenly forgets that he has anything at all that he must do. He still does certain things out of habit, but his thoughts are floating in the clouds, above. We see how much the material action becomes weakened—in work, in the family, in everything. A person who is completely attached to spirituality greatly neglects the material.

Those who say that one who studies Kabbalah does not observe the commandments in practice with the meticulousness required in this world, are seemingly right. We ourselves see that this is so; let us not hide what, in the end, actually happens.

It is necessary to clarify the reasons for this phenomenon: either, God forbid, we are studying something incorrect; or we are mistaken and are not studying as we should; or this is natural and perhaps it will later return in another form, on another degree, in another existence—together, both in the spiritual and in the material.
[358689]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

Related Material:
Performing Mitzvot Both Externally And Internally
Washing One’s “Hands” With The Light
Spiritual Roots Of The Traditions Of This World

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why do we agree that some people engage in inner actions while others engage only in external ones?

Answer: Why should we agree or disagree with it? In spirituality, there is no such concept as agreeing or disagreeing. In spirituality, there is only the definition of the state in which I exist.

If a particular light comes to me and sustains me on a certain degree, then I am a “thief.” If a greater light comes to me, I become a “robber.” And if an even greater light comes, I become a “righteous person.” Everything depends on the measure of the light descending upon me.

You may lament, “Oh, I’m a robber!”, it will not help you at all because a state is a state. You can only give it a name; you cannot change it. If you want to deceive yourself, put the label “righteous” on it. It will not help, though perhaps it will make you feel differently.

“Why don’t we oppose this? Why do we agree with it?” I am speaking about the state itself, not about how I should react to it. Whether I want it or not, whether I agree or disagree, this is my state. This is how it happens: A person who begins to engage in the inner part almost completely neglects the external part.

Conversely, there are people who studied Kabbalah in the correct way and, as a result, neglected the practical commandments. Later, having forgotten what true study is and returned to some pseudo-system, they begin observing the commandments and become good Orthodox Jews. I see all these changes, the entire spectrum of possibilities.

Thus, I am describing a phenomenon without judging whether it is good or bad. You cannot say that when a lion devours its prey, it is doing something wrong. That is its nature, which dictates its actions. It is the same with us: every step we take at every given moment is dictated by our nature.

This has been known for many generations. There are many stories dating back three or four hundred years. For example, someone looked through a window and saw a Kabbalist lighting a candle at a time when it was forbidden. I do not think these stories are false or that they were invented by opponents of Kabbalah. I am saying seriously that such phenomena are well known. I have seen them and experienced them myself.

Why is this so? We will speak about that later. There is a reason for it and an intention from above. First of all, everything that happens is done from above. As for how we should relate to it, how we should behave, whether by adapting ourselves or by overcoming it, we will discuss that separately. But the phenomenon itself exists. This is not the army where you can simply say, “No, that’s impossible!” It exists, and first of all we must define the state and acknowledge the truth.

To study yourself, you must see yourself through someone else’s eyes.
[358694]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

Related Material:
External Actions And Internal Intentions
Can There Be Intention Without Action?
Opposition To Unity, Part 7

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

In the work, meaning when we want to come to work in order to bestow and not receive for ourselves, of course we must observe the 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in actual fact.One who learns Torah but does not want to observe the 613 Mitzvot de facto, is learning knowledge, the way one learns external teachings (Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?“).

Question: Does this apply to us in the sense that a person who still does not observe the Torah and the commandments in practice is, in essence, merely “acquiring wisdom” rather than studying the Torah?

Answer: I can tell you, as I understand it, what Rabash most likely means, not as others explain it, but according to his own interpretation.

A person who studies the Torah is one who is learning to become like the giver of the Torah. But if he does not draw the guidance for becoming similar to the giver of the Torah from the Torah, then for him the Torah is merely a science. He is not studying it in practice. It is written: “Good is the study that leads to action,” but such a person does not come to action, to correction.

If the Torah does not lead to action, it becomes merely a science, mere intellectual knowledge. About this it is said: “Believe that there is wisdom among the nations of the world.” What a person studies from the Torah while wishing to remain a non-Jew is called a science. But if a person wants to become a Jew, even though at present he is still a non-Jew, that is, he remains in the desire to receive, then he is truly studying the Torah, not merely a science. One who studies the Torah seeks through its illumination to attain the lights.

An action is called the correction of the screen over the desire to receive. Action is the fulfillment of a commandment. You take an evil desire and transform it into a good one. Therefore Rabash says that the commandments of the Torah consist first of 613 counsels (Eitin) for correcting the soul, and then 613 commandments (Pekudin), through which these corrected parts are filled with the lights.

In the end, after you have corrected and fulfilled all these commandments, all these parts, and filled them with the light called the Torah, you are rewarded with the general Torah. And when you come to the correction of the entire vessel, and the truly all-encompassing light is revealed to you, this is called Kadosh Baruch Hu (the Creator).
[358637]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

Related Material:
Levels of Studying the Torah
A Handmaid Devoted To Her Mistress
Studying the Torah

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →