Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Steps of the Ladder), “What is a Blessing and a Curse in the Work”: Each day, man needs to start anew and say that today he will be awarded to see “I am your God” and that he will not escape from the battle. He should not say “I already prayed many times that God will give me the vessels of bestowal, and I will exit the desire to receive for myself, and I did not receive any answer for my prayer, so what is the benefit of praying again?”

The truth is that we never request vessels of bestowal because it is impossible.

Yes we ask for what is called “bestowal.” We ask to be able to love the other, but that is how we call it; this is not bestowal; it is not love for the other or bestowing desires. We never truly pray for the spiritual world, or the spiritual state, or spiritual vessels. In our current desire, in our current mind and feeling, we simply are not capable to request it, and we do not even know what it is.

Therefore, it is said: “I labored and I found.” One needs to put effort in what Kabbalists tell us to do, to follow strictly their recommendations, and to understand clearly that we do not have any chance to come directly and independently to the correct prayer; we cannot break our heart and raise a request for correction (MAN).

At first each one of our prayers is based on how to receive, to gain, and to take advantage of the friends, the Creator, of any one. That is the fact and there is no place to escape from it. But above us, there is a system of breakage that translates our actions, our broken requests, to correction.

On the way from above downward, the desires broke, and on the way back, when I rise from the broken state, they are corrected in this system. They rise as if I requested what is needed, as if I really plead for love and bestowal to the other and for connection with the friends and the Creator whom I am ready to accept as goodness.

This system is the broken world of Nikudim and the world of Atzilut that was created later is the adapter: On one side of this system, there are the false world, the worlds of BYA that are disconnected from the Creator, and the states opposite to bestowal, in which we exist. On the other side, there is the Creator, perfection.

My plea for love is a lie, but we all arrange this lie in a correct form as if we really want something besides self-benefit. If between us, we come together in the correct form, if we arrange the study and all our actions correctly, then our request goes through this system that corrects it, and this is what is called “I labored and I found.”

Although we don’t know the world of Atzilut, it does its work. And that is why we need to do exactly what Kabbalists tell us without lying to ourselves or being ashamed. It is true that we do not request spirituality, but scream like a baby and mother knows what he needs. Mother needs only a tiny scream from the baby to know what his needs are.

This is what is required from us. “Do everything that is in your power to do,” and this will bring good results.
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From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7

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Shamati, Article 159: And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died… (Exodus) The greatness of the ego, all the good corporeal life, a person’s desire to feel better in life—everything falls, collapses, and dies. So what can a person do? This is what humanity as a whole and every individual are going through now. We cannot operate according to the ordinary ego for the ordinary corporeal causes.

And then, the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, which are those who yearn for spirituality, even if they don’t know what it is yet, and those who are already close to it, who somewhat understand that spirituality symbolizes bestowal and love regardless of their personal interests. Thus they begin to check themselves and see that they cannot go on this way.

This is a pyramid that contains those who simply cannot be consumers and serve their ego through those who have already clarified that spirituality symbolizes bestowal instead of self-love. Everyone takes his place in it and everyone “sighs” in his own point from this egoistic bondage.

There are those in whom the “point in the heart” has awakened, and there are those who simply suffer not knowing why. Everyone sighs under the burden of their situation, not knowing how to fill themselves.

And their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage—they don’t just cry, it is because of the hard work: from the futile attempts to fill their ego or from those that are more advanced but still cannot leave their old habits and take upon themselves the burden of God’s work and start working in bestowal and love of others.

But despite everything, “And God heard their groaning.” The Creator hears everyone that responds to what the Creator does with him. The system is built in such a way that the upper takes care of everyone according to a person’s level, but especially those who understand and have to aim themselves practically at bestowal and love in the group, in “brothers sitting together,” among those who yearn for the Creator.

They suffered so much that they could not bear it any longer. Then the people pleaded with prayer so much that their cry came up unto God; they were exhausted by this work. But on the other hand we see that that they were saying: “Would that we had… when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full.” And they also said, “We remember the fish which we were wont to eat in Egypt for naught…” which means that it seems that before everything was fine.

A person has two points at the same time: One is corporeal and the other which is seemingly spiritual. So he is between them and the further apart they are, the more space he has, and the more he knows his place and what he does.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/12, Shamati #159

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Shamati, Article 159: It means that if Israel are under the dominion of a certain nation, that nation controls them and they cannot retire from their dominion. Thus, they tasted sufficient flavor in that work and could not be redeemed.

So what did the Creator do? “The king of Egypt died,” meaning they had lost this servitude. Thus they could no longer work….

Is it good that Pharaoh died? After all, he brought the children of Israel closer to Holiness by forcing them to fulfill two discernments within them. On the one hand, they had pots full of meat, but on the other hand they were slaves.

If we don’t think about spirituality, then we forget the slavery and don’t feel that we are slaves. You work for your ego and you make good profit. Slavery begins when despite that the pots are full of meat; you feel that you have no spirituality because you don’t attain connection and love, the opportunity to exit the ego.

Slavery is felt only when you have two points of discernments: on the corporeal level everything is fine, but on the spiritual level, there is nothing and there won’t be anything. In this case it is called “slavery,” the domination of matter on the spirit. The Creator hears us only when we connect among us and begin to separate corporeality from spirituality, and see that we have to look for the spiritual point in the connection among us.

This is why we are called “the Children of Israel” and “brothers sitting together,” those who feel themselves as slaves in Egypt who don’t have the power to attain connection. At first everything seemed possible, was good and wonderful. Then the troubles began and we see that in different groups. This is the second stage of the slavery in Egypt, in which the Children of Israel groan from the hard work. They cannot connect, but instead of escaping, they continue to work on connection.

If a person doesn’t leave the group because of that, but continues to hit on that one point, trying to achieve connection, then eventually he despairs and cries out because he lacks the powers. If we are connected, we receive a vessel to discover the Creator, but we can’t create it by ourselves because a person can’t achieve spiritual actions by himself.

Then we groan from this work, which means that we understand that we need the help of the upper force. Only it can correct us and connect us. This groan is already a salvation, the great revelation of “there is none else besides Him,” and that only He can connect us. We have attained the desire to connect by our work when we understand that this is the only thing we need without any tempting corporeal conditions, no matter what they may be.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/12, Shamati #159

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The Holiday of Pesach (Passover) begins tomorrow. We have to understand what it is. Firstly, “Pesach” is the most important state. We remember this exodus from Egypt in all the following corrections. Why? Because this is the foundation, from which the ladder of spiritual degrees begins.

Secondly, Pesach is the spiritual birth of a human being.

Thirdly, we are talking about darkness, in which we build the preparatory base for our corrections because we have nothing else to correct except what is disclosed in “Egypt.” These years of preparation, on the one hand, are useful because they reveal our corrupt desires; on the other hand, they are hard because exile is an unpleasant thing.

However, in reality it all depends on how we accept what is happening, trying hard to comprehend, understand, and recognize this state, how much we are aware of its necessity in the group, and how much we can feel blossoming in it.

Similarly, the Middle Ages was a dark period of history, which was characterized by confusion, human brutality, the cruelty of inquisition, religious aggression, and animalistic mores. However, going deeper, we see that it became the preparation for the outburst of the Renaissance, for the development of science and other subsequent achievements.

Until the end of the Middle Ages humanity was obtaining big vessels, desires. Then, a cultural explosion took place, and the Age of Enlightenment began during which we used what we had prepared before. Now, we are approaching a logical result—the crisis of all the desires having been exhausted and there is nothing else to do in our world.

If we draw parallels with spirituality, the current preparation allows us to reach the end of correction and use our desires correctly. After all, we revealed our evil during the period of Egyptian exile. That is why all further corrections are called the “memory” of the exodus from Egypt.

In this case, evil is revealed to us only in the relationships between friends. Consequently, if we correctly perceive the problems arising between us, we prepare ourselves for ascent. We must request correction from these states; however, on condition that we want to unite, we feel the need for it, see that we cannot, and nonetheless continue to push. The less we succeed, the more we press.

We need to reveal bestowal namely in this mutual pressure between us. Even if instead of it, we on the contrary reveal reception, evil, manifested above good, we do not retreat, do not relax, and do not despair. We are going to the end, until the state about which is said in the Torah: “and the children of Israel groaned from the work” (Exodus 2:23)

It will not be just moaning; we will really feel that we are powerless to do anything else. That is when a person raises his hands to the Creator and merges in the collective prayer.

Thus, we should respect the current period. We cannot exit it until we prepare the desire for further corrections. It is impossible to receive revelation from Above, if we do not push, forcing the upper force to reveal us our evil.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I have the feeling that my ego “steals” everything from me. I sit with my friends and it seems that I ascend my desire to receive, but then I feel that they are the ones who are doing that. I feel that I am in the dark, that I don’t hear anything, and don’t feel the Light. What should I do?

Answer: You should try to dissolve into the friends, like someone who is small or like someone who is new in a society.

When you come to a new society you don’t know anything and you don’t know anyone. You try to enter it without being too prominent or standing out. Suppose you come to a new work place, you simply try to keep quiet in order to discover, to see, and to feel everyone else.

This is how you should behave. Then you begin to feel what they have. You will develop like an embryo in his mother’s womb. Then gradually, to the extent that you begin to feel yourself as real and safe, you begin to express yourself together with everyone else.

Try to neutralize yourself and only be inside. This is enough, because we will create the field that exists here. You shouldn’t worry, if you do that, you will feel it.

Question: But in any case my ego will feel satisfaction in that. How can I avoid stealing from myself and from others?

Answer: Who says this is bad if you want to feel spirituality? It isn’t bad.

The goal of creation is to enjoy, to be filled, but in bestowing. You want to enter the group and to acquire that attribute of bestowal, and in it you want to feel pleasure. In the meantime that’s okay. We cannot imagine anything else.

The most important thing for us today is the yearning for bestowal, to bestow in order to feel pleasure. This is our level, called Lo Lishma, (Not for Her Sake).

When the Light comes and is gradually revealed in us, (this will happen only if we yearn for it that way), as a result of its influence we will begin to feel that the attribute of bestowal is above everything else, greater than everything, and that I want to be in it. Even if in the meantime it is egoistically, “I want to be in it.”

Then the Light will influence us in such a way that you will suddenly begin to detach from yourself, from the “I want.” Your “self” will suddenly begin to disappear and you will feel yourself “outside yourself,” outside the “self.”

Leave it to the Light! You cannot do it by yourself. You have to yearn as much as you can in all your desires, including the egoistic desires—and the Light will do all the rest.

This is a “prayer.” You are asking the Light to do this work for you. It created your ego and it is the one that will change the ego. Our yearning should be only for that in order to enable it to do this work.

If we yearn for unity, the Light will do all the rest.

We are all egoists. We don’t know and we don’t understand anything. We don’t know what will happen to us in a minute. We don’t know our attributes, we don’t know anything, and we are not required to do so. We are only required to do one thing, to simply try, to make an effort, and the Light will do all the rest.

The maximum unity in the group summons the Light, and then it changes us. We don’t have to do anything artificially. Everything will be taken care of and you just try to connect.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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The attribute of bestowal is attained in the group, in society, under special conditions that are described by Kabbalists from the state that was prepared for us by the shattering of First Man (Adam HaRishon), the general soul. If we use the small environment that was given to us correctly, and in it, try to reach mutual bestowal, we will discover that we are in exile in Egypt.

We discover that there is no way we can attain spirituality, the Creator, the attribute of bestowal, if we don’t reach the love of friends first. But all our attempts to reach connection and love of friends end in complete failure, as it is written, “the Children of Israel cried from the work,” because we discovered that we built poor cities, Pithom and Ramses for Pharaoh, which means that we only increased our desire to receive.

Although we despair from this work, we don’t leave it and we shout: “Save us!” After all, our ego, Pharaoh, doesn’t let us connect, and if this goes on this way it will never let us leave the exile and attain the connection with the upper force.

This is really a cry of despair from the bottom of the heart. Then a special, general force called “Moses” is revealed. It is revealed in the group and goes through many changes. Once it is revealed and once it is concealed, until we stabilize this collective force and place it against our ego.

When we are ready to fight our collective ego that disturbs us from connecting by placing the collective force of connection called “Moses” against it, the life or death struggle begins. We support this force as much as we can and even above our power! Here we discover in our general collective point the help from Above. At this point, the Creator says: “Come to Pharaoh, let’s fight him together!” this means that He agrees to connect with our collective point, and so he takes us out of Egypt.

On the way different phenomena occur, which the Haggadah tells us about, and we have to go through all this. It refers only to our attempts to reach connection and to somehow fulfill it. Eventually we come out of this state, of our inability to connect, and attain what we wanted. The method of connection called Torah is revealed to us against the ego and the hatred.

Now the system we can use appears. It is called Torah, the Reforming Light that gradually begins to influence us in order to correct us. There is Mt. Sinai that separates us, the collective ego that stands in the way of the connection among us. When the Light corrects the hatred into connection, this mountain becomes the “mountain of Holiness.”

This is what the holiday of Pesach is about (from the Hebrew word meaning “to skip”), which symbolizes the transitions from exile to freedom. Exile is my inability to connect. I don’t know how to do it, but I yearn for it and demand it.

Redemption symbolizes the fact that I was given a chance, a system, a method that enables me to correct the evil in me and to turn it into good. Good means mutual guarantee, love of friends, in which I discover the force that enables me to fulfill this attitude and adhere to the Creator. After all, He is the goal I yearned for from the start.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/12, Shamati #41

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From a lesson of Rabash: We study that we should be in equivalence of form. What is equivalence of form? Just like the Creator bestows, so do we have to bestow. This is equivalence of form. When we have to bestow, we have no self-love, we cry. It hurts that we must do so. The Creator bestows, and the question is does He have pleasure in it or isn’t there pleasure for the one who bestows? So there is no equivalence of form! So there must be pleasure when we bestow, otherwise there is no equivalence of form. You can bestow without pain; bestow, I don’t need your pain, just bestow.

Enjoy the bestowal, who gives it to you? He should work, the body doesn’t want to! It isn’t that I need to suffer, there is no choice; the body doesn’t want to work. Why should I suffer; I don’t want to suffer. I need the exertion! And this isn’t a condition! A person who doesn’t feel the exertion, it is a sign that his intention is in order to receive, not in order to bestow. The body doesn’t agree to bestow.

You should never yearn for bad things. If it’s necessary to feel different changes, they will come by themselves. A person shouldn’t think about a descent, but always yearn for an ascent, both in his feelings and his thoughts: for goodness, adhesion, connection, and wholeness. But at the same time, a person should assess himself critically, understanding that if there is nothing inside him that objects to bestowal, it’s a sign that there is an egoistic matter here. If a person manages to advance happily and without exertion, it’s a clear sign that he does it egoistically, in order to receive. Only when he receives above the power of bestowal, will he be able to bestow and at the same time be happy.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/12

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Question: How can it be that we shouldn’t ask to revoke the concealment, but at the same time, only the revelation can correct and connect us?

Answer: The question is what revelation am I asking for? I need to ask for the revelation of the attribute of bestowal, which I want to acquire. The Creator lets me feel that He exists but is as if hiding behind a curtain. All this is so that I will reveal Him. I can reveal Him only by developing the attribute of bestowal within me.

But what would I ask for now, in my egoistic desire? I ask that He becomes revealed in order to fill me, and this is why I am in concealment. The concealment protects my ego like a circuit breaker in a short circuit.

The concealment puts me at a certain distance, keeps me at a certain range, and lets me understand that if I correct myself, I will be able to get closer. And if not, I will stay at a distance.

Now the question is what I will ask for when being at such a distance: Do I ask that the Creator reveals Himself and fills me for my own personal pleasure, as if I want to enjoy myself, or do I first want to acquire the desire to bestow and in it, receive the filling, that is, do I want to be filled by the actions of bestowal and not by the actions of reception?

The concealment is meant to allow me to decide what I want.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/2012, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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I need to separate the outcomes of my every action and every state into two parts: 

1. The state itself came from the Creator, and it is always good;
2. While I, in accordance with my desires, can call myself either the “wicked” or the “righteous,” depending on whether I justify this state or not.

Moreover, which criteria do I use to justify it? If it is pleasant for me, then of course I justify it. What am I in this case then: the“wicked” or the “righteous?” I am the wicked because I justify the Creator egoistically.

It could also be the opposite: My state is evil for the will to receive and good for the will to bestow since it allows me to move forward. It turns out that the Creator is helping me by sending a bad sensation so that I don’t remain in the same place and instead realize that there are still things that require correction in my relationship with Him.

True and precise self-evaluations are always needed. Everything depends on a person who attains the given state, analyzes it correctly, and comes to a demand. And what does he demand? He asks for the forces of bestowal, and nothing more.

If I ask for good, this demand will be egoistic. At the same time, I am not able to ask for harm to my egoism. The very same ego lurks in any such request.

How can I beg to progress to the next state, which undoubtedly bodes harm for my egoism? Could I really ask the Creator to correct me, that He take away the most precious thing I have right now? If in my current desires I yearn for pleasures, how can I ask to stop receiving pleasure? It won’t be an aspiration of the heart but simply words that don’t count in spirituality.

A person has no possibility to raise a prayer for correction on his own. The only way is to appeal from within the point in the heart (without attaching anything from my own self since egoism reigns within me) by connecting to the group at the same time. Only together with the friends can I make my contribution to the common prayer for correction. And this prayer will help us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/2012, “Introduction to TES” 

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There is nothing but the relationships among us, relationships of receiving and bestowal. The result of these relationships should be to bring contentment to the Creator. The upper Partzufim cooperate: Abba and Ima, and ZON perform endless different actions, the Reshimot (reminiscences) change, but the main thing is the intention of the person who operates this whole system.

Before he operates it everything in it is dead, still. Then a person comes and the first thing he does is to weed out the dry thorns from the vineyard, which means that he cuts and separates the “stony heart” that cannot be corrected. Then he begins to work with all the rest. Prior to that, the whole system is quiet and a person operates it according to his exertion: He “presses the gas pedal,” he wants the system to work in order to bestow.

There is a set table in front of me and I have to gradually take everything that is on it and enjoy the refreshments in order to bring contentment to the host. So I check my vessels and see that they are vessels of receiving. I mustn’t receive even one gram of pleasure in them. First I must restrict myself. If the host is important to me, I will not enjoy for my sake, but will only want to enjoy for his sake.

But how can I bestow upon him, where can I find the power to do so? I begin to look for different methods and advice, and eventually reach the request. In order to receive such power, the Creator has to be revealed to me as the One who bestows, and then He reveals His greatness and His importance to me. But when the power of bestowal reaches a person, it doesn’t rule him, but according to a person’s request, it only rules his desires to receive.

I am made totally of this desire to receive, so how real can my request for the power of bestowal to rule me be? I can scream forever, but it will just be empty tears because I don’t know what to ask for. It’s like a baby who cries loudly, but no one gives him what he wants. We are angry that we don’t receive the spiritual revelation, just like babies.

I have to know exactly what to ask for. If I know what to ask for, how to ask, and for what reason, then my request will be effective. How can I demand the attribute of bestowal? First I have to acquire its importance. This means that I am asking for the Creator and His revelation. I am not asking to enjoy Him, but only to attain the greatness of bestowal: “Let me respect you!” This is the final request. It isn’t so that I’ll feel good and receive pleasure. I only want to respect Him without taking myself into account. We can receive and demand this necessity from the environment.

This request should not be expressed in words, in a fiery speech, or a carefully composed telegram. It’s revealed in the heart, it breaks the walls of the heart and spills out. I ask not in order to enjoy the feeling that I bestow, that I am great and equal to the Creator. I want to acquire the attribute of bestowal itself and I check my intention to improve my attitude to the friends.

Then I will understand what Kabbalists write about and I will consciously be included in what is happening in Malchut of Atzilut. All these things take place in a clear and clarified manner inside me according to the process that Kabbalists describe and reveal it in small portions one after the other. We are very close to that.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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