Question: We learned that if a person who studies the Torah directs the proper intention toward their study, they come from the state of Lo Lishma to Lishma (for the sake of the Creator). How does this happen?

Answer: It is said that one does not truly engage in the Torah while in the state of Lo Lishma. If a person remains an egoist, why should they study the Torah? If you are an “animal,” then live like an animal. But if a person uses the light in the Torah to correct themself and return to the source, then they truly can engage in the Torah.

However, for one who studies without such an aim, everything happens in the opposite way. Their eyes become blind, light becomes darkness, and darkness becomes light.

Question: If a person strives only for the Creator, is it called Lishma?

Answer: What does it mean to say, “I want the Creator”? What do I want to gain from that? What is it that you want from the Creator? Do you want to bring Him contentment? If a person desires to bestow upon the Creator, this is called Lishma, for the sake of the Creator.

This is determined according to the opening of one’s eyes in the Torah. If the Creator is revealed to you, and as a result of your aspiration toward Him you are in adhesion with Him, and if, in accordance with your desire to bestow upon Him, He fills you with His presence and His light, then it means that, through the equivalence of form, your desire truly has the intention to bestow upon Him.

But if you have not yet reached such a state, then you are only saying that you wish to bestow upon the Creator. In reality, you are deceiving yourself.
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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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Question: In the greatest state of Lo Lishma does a person begin to desire the next stage, Lishma?

Answer: No, at the peak of Lo Lishma a person does not want Lishma, because he does not understand what it is. The greatest Lo Lishma is when I want to bestow to the Creator, to be with Him, I love Him to such an extent that I do not feel myself. It is like in love, the sensation of it fills a person so completely that it suppresses their will to receive. There is a lot of egoism there and even aggression, but it is extinguished by the feeling of the necessity of connection with the beloved.

How do I use my study? Each time I want something, I understand that I can realize it by means of study, in the course of which I receive the forces to realize what I want. At the same time, I must come to study with some desire. Suppose today I want by means of study to change this or that.

Study is about the specific payment you want, or power you seek in order to bring about a change within you?

But if you arrive without a precise definition of what you want to change in yourself, the study is futile. What is the purpose of the light’s arrival? You and your friends awaken it, and it simply circles around you and leaves.

By the effort that you apply during study, you draw the upper light upon yourself, which brings life, health, strength, and all that is best. And if you just sit and study, and you have no demand for these forces, then why did you come to the lesson?

When you come to a lesson, even if you do not yet know why, just as your friends do not know what they are awakening the forces around for, then the light itself builds the desire in you. Gradually you begin to feel what exactly you must desire. But in order to use study more quickly and effectively, you need to come prepared with a specific desire in mind.

When one of my students calls me and asks how to play a role in the theater because he is struggling, frustrated, and torn apart, I give him some advice. But the best advice is that when you have problems, something hurts, or things are not working out, come here, study, and that very light that comes will give you the answer to everything, including how to play the role.

Just think how down‑to‑earth this example is, yet you already believe that from your study of the Torah you gain the strength to improve something. The only power that exists in this world is the light that comes from the upper world. In other words, this is the only possibility to change something in your state.

There is no other means: You will not find such a screwdriver, fork, or pliers with which you could tighten something in yourself and thus change. Only the light can do this.

And although it has a general influence on the soul and advances it, I must define what I want from it, so that I catch this surrounding light and, using it like a screwdriver, tighten something in myself in order to change. This must be more or less clear to you, and you need to know this before you come to study.

In principle, we understand this: We gather in groups, discuss and clarify what our desire is, and begin to study, knowing exactly what we want from the surrounding light. And if nothing changes in me, then I must voice my discontent as to why it did not change anything in me: “Where are Your promises? Show me where I am at fault and why You did not do this for me.”
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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: How can a person determine that he is standing before a choice?

Answer: A person does not know that he is in a state of choice. He must have faith and constantly remind themselves.

Therefore it is necessary to develop the habit of creating various reminders, notes, and marks inside and around myself that will help me constantly remember what, and in which direction, I can now add from myself. And then, within three to five years, one can attain what the Kabbalists write about.

However, the system must accompany me in such a way that I can constantly awaken, and strive toward the goal. Now this system is becoming denser; time is compressing. For although the Kabbalists wrote long ago, in the times of the Gemara, they had our days in mind.

It is said that everything that has been written is intended for the last generation, for living in the days of the Mashiach because for the previous generations it made no sense to write anything. In the past generations only a few individuals rose to the spiritual, and the Torah they had was different; they were drawn from above. But all the holy books, including those written by Moses, are intended for our generation.

It seems to me that for beginners time is indeed greatly shortened. Today people come who grasp the material very quickly. After two or three years I still did not perceive what today they feel and understand after a month of study.

Comment: With such receptivity one can remain for ten years without advancing at all.

My Response: I am speaking about one specific parameter. That a person can sit here another twenty years, and remain the same as today is true; it all depends on him. And yet for now, his understanding, perception, and connection with the material are such as mine were two years after I began to study Kabbalah. This is a miracle; I am amazed by it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

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Question: How can I clarify what a particular state is sent to me for?

Answer: You see there are many people in the world who turn to the upper force. I remember a visit to San Francisco where statues of Christian saints, the Madonna and child, etc., stand right on the streets. People worship these statues, they come up right on the street and kiss them. We see pure idolatry in a modern American city. This is a clear example for you.

Or consider Baal HaSulam’s example about the kibbutz members in the Negev desert that suffer from drought and, without realizing it, turn to the Creator with a request for rain. This request comes from the heart. Whether they want it or not, they ask the upper force for help, because it is precisely the Creator who arranges this situation for them, although they do not know it.

That is, people all over the world turn to the Creator for help. Even a little flea that suffers because it has nothing to eat  does; its suffering is also an appeal to the source of its suffering, to the Creator.

The question is how to correctly turn to the Creator, starting from the little flea up to the big animals, up to the person worshipping statues, up to the kibbutzniks of the Negev, up to religious Jews on the inanimate level of holiness, and up to those who already truly wish to turn to the source and to know to whom they are turning. Yet the appeal of the latter has a completely different goal.

The request of a flea or of a person who asks for his own good in this world and in the world to come remains within the framework of the material world. But when a person begins to ask not that he should feel good in the future world, because in his request there is already some feeling toward the Creator (meaning it is simultaneously a mix of Lo Lishma and Lishma), then becomes a targeted request.

This is the essential difference between our request and the request of a flea or an idol‑worshipper, because it is truly an appeal to the Creator. After all, we do not ask like the kibbutzniks, who pray because there is no rain and suffer from drought, and we do not cry out to the Creator that we feel bad so that it will become good. We speak of an appeal that is difficult to express in words.

If I ask the Creator for correction so as to become like Him, this too is a request “on my own account,” it is also Lo Lishma. Lishma is a feeling that we are not even able to put into words. How can I turn with such a request that will be as if disconnected from myself and directed exclusively toward the Creator?

Therefore, our entire work passes through various relations with the upper force, in order to finally come to “Israel, the Creator, and the Torah are one.” That is, the steps I take in the process of my clarifications in relation to the Creator are called “Torah”; it is about how I relate to Him so that these steps, instead of being directed toward myself, will be more and more directed toward Him.

Making a reversal in the direction of my actions is the work.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,’ in the Work?”

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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.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/26, Rabash, “When Should One Use Pride in the Work?”

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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.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/9, Baal HaSulam, Letter 29

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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.
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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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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.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity in the Work?”

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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.
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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? ”

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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.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?”

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