Prayer is a desire, Hisaron, that is already present in a person. This desire has already been analyzed, it is ready to receive fulfillment, an answer. And the effort is in attaining such a desire. The desire itself, the prayer itself, is secondary. The whole essence is in the work beforehand.

Question: Is prayer my deepest intention? Is it about what I am looking for?

Answer: You do not know what you are looking for. You have what we call a “spiritual gene”: a chain of Reshimot (reminiscences or spiritual records) that resides in you because your soul has descended from above to its present low, corrupted state. All the degrees that it passes through are now present within it, but only in the form of Reshimot, in the form of information about each degree.

You can acquire this degree if to this information you add the strength for the conquest of the degree. The force with which the attainment of the degree takes place is called a screen or an intention for the sake of bestowal.

Our work consists of using various actions to reveal the next Reshimo. If I have realized it and continue onward, then the next Reshimo is revealed, a higher one, then an even higher one, and another. And in this way I return to the place from where the soul descended.

I cannot foresee the next desire that will arise when I reveal the next Reshimo: what I will look then, what my thoughts, my desires will be, who I will become. It is simply foolish to imagine now the state I am not in yet. On what basis would I do so?

We see that all the states we go through are such that it is impossible to even guess what the next one will be like. Therefore, I should not think about future desires, future thoughts. It is not without reason that it is written regarding spiritual work: “As an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” It is exactly in this most primitive form that I want to come to something greater. But what is something greater? If I begin to imagine something myself, it is already wrong.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/24/26, Rabash, “Who Testifies to a Person”

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Question: How can we speak about gradual development when the gap between any two consecutive degrees is infinite?

Answer: The infinite gap between the degrees does not contradict gradual development; on the contrary, it makes it possible because the connection between the degrees passes through infinity.

Each degree is like a piece of sausage, like a slice containing all of its components, and you, as it were, return to the original whole form of the sausage in order to receive the next slice. Each time, you return upward in order to continue the work below.

We say that at each degree there is MAN (Mayin Nukvin, a request from a lower Partzuf to the upper one for the ability to receive the light of Hochma) and MAD (Mayin Duchrin, the response). Even if we do not know what this means, do not consciously raise a prayer, and do not receive the light from above, nevertheless, this order is maintained at every degree and in every state. MAN rises to infinity, and from there the lights descend.

There is no state whose initial cause does not lie in infinity. And our states are no exception.

We call our states corrections, and we do not experience states that existed before. Something similar once existed in the broken vessels, which, incidentally, were not our vessels. Our vessels are vessels of human desire; they are something else entirely. They are not the Kelim that, upon falling, serve as a root or preparation.

Therefore, everything we have—every picture of the surrounding world, every state—reaches infinity and returns. This is not a long journey. We should not imagine it as a round trip spanning many kilometers.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

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Torah is the force that corrects and fills a person. Torah is the light that comes as the light of correction and fulfillment of the Kelim. A person performs the preparation called a commandment, and the light that consequently fills one is called Torah.

The Creator gives a person the strength to correct oneself to the extent that one reveals the need to receive this strength specifically from the Creator. This is called the “raising of MAN.”

Raising MAN is a combination of conditions, inner definitions, sensations, and experience. All of this together is called a “Reshimo,” which prompts the upper one to help the lower one.

We cannot say that the upper one does not want this, but He is on a higher degree, and if a person has a desire to awaken this higher degree, it means that he can become part of that degree. This is the meaning of a request.

In truth, it is not simply a request, but the Kli (vessel) becoming equivalent to that of the upper one. Then the upper one fills the person’s Kli, and by receiving this fulfillment, one becomes similar to the upper one. This means that one has risen to the degree of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,’ in the Work?”

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Question: For whom do I ask for the light that reforms and returns to the source? Is it for my friends, who supposedly are already corrected, or for myself?

Answer: A person asks from a deep inner need, from a desire. The desire must be for the society. After all, if we are talking about attaining spirituality, then in spirituality there is no personal calculation with anyone.

There is no such thing as “I” that exists in spirituality. I am the collective of souls into which I am included. And therefore a person cannot remain there alone, detached from others.

So for what kind of life does one ask for strength? The life force is for the common body, the one soul. Therefore a person should ask for strength in order to bestow to this body. One’s entire life is determined by how much they give to the common system.

Therefore, even if one’s prayer is caused by a desire to receive strength, it is a prayer that one be given the strength to bestow to the common body of the soul. And therefore, whether a person asks for everyone or asks for oneself, it is one and the same prayer.

When we speak about there being a “prayer of one” and a “prayer of many,” this is still an uncorrected prayer. There is no other prayer except the “prayer of many,” a prayer for the society.

But as long as a person is not yet in a completely corrected state, one partially asks for oneself and partially for the society. According to this, a person is corrected by having one’s direction adjusted so that one feels where it is better and where it is worse, and in this way a person is brought to the correct prayer.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/10, The Zohar

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Our sages (RASHI, Tavo 3 (Deuteronomy 26:16), in Yitro 13:10) said about the verse, “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul,” “Each day, they will be as new in your eyes, as though you received them today from Mt. Sinai, as though on this day you were commanded them” (Rabash “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”).

What does it mean that each day, they will be as new in your eyes? The desire to receive is not new. It has existed in the same form from the beginning of creation and forever. Rather, they will be as new in your eyes means that the renewal relates only to the intention for the sake of bestowal.

With regard to intention, a person is always either in an ascent or in a descent and is constantly making clarifications. It is precisely by the intention that we evaluate a person.

Initially, a person has no intention at all. He simply becomes accustomed to performing actions that he was taught through his upbringing, whether religious or secular. This is called performing learned actions or behaving as a trained person.

Obviously, there is no intention here. Habit simply becomes second nature, both for those who received a religious upbringing and for those who received a secular one. This has nothing to do with what we call intention, because there is still nothing here of the one we call a human.

Anyone can be raised in any manner, and that is how he will remain. There is not yet a man here. A man is one who, through free choice, forms within himself the image of Adam, one who is similar to the Creator. In this process, there is first the intention for one’s own sake (Lo Lishma), and afterward for the sake of the Creator (Lishma).

Lo Lishma includes all of a person’s efforts from the moment he begins working with the point in the heart and receives some awakening toward coming closer to the Creator. Although this may take many years, ten or fifteen, depending on the quantity and, above all, the quality of his efforts, even if he has worked for all those years while experiencing descents and ascents, sometimes moving away and sometimes drawing closer, passing through various states, then, when he is rewarded with the correct intention for the sake of the Creator, all his efforts throughout all the reincarnations (since he may not be able to complete everything in a single reincarnation) become included in the intention for the sake of bestowal that he has acquired and enter his work forever.

Everything else that he received through his upbringing does not belong to the degree of a man and is not taken into account. And so, he advances with regard to intention, constantly adding to it, while passing through descents and ascents.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

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Question: Does forming an intention affect habits in the material world?

Answer: In the material world, there should be as few different habits as possible. Habit should apply only to the study schedule.

Or one can say the opposite. A habit is beneficial where you act like an animal and establish proper frameworks for yourself in order to advance: getting up at night, studying, going to work, returning from work, continuing your studies, or engaging in dissemination, going home to sleep, and repeating all this again.

By structuring your lives this way, you form a habit. It truly becomes a second nature; a person gradually becomes accustomed to it. But even having this habit, if you do not work with intention, you devolve to the inanimate level.

Only through intention can something be added. Regarding actions in this world, the rule “neither add nor subtract” applies here, and all additions occur with the help of the screen (Masach).

Question: So everything that does not concern intention should become a habit?

Answer: There is no need to worry about matters that have no intention or about any actions performed without it. Intention itself will compel a person to act. In spirituality, intention is the action.

That is why, in books and stories, Kabbalists are often portrayed as simply sitting in a corner, doing nothing, and working with intention. This is how people imagine Kabbalists.

In reality, all the work of a Kabbalist is internal. But even in inner work, we distinguish between action and intention.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

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From initially saying “there is none else besides Him,” and then striving to become similar to this through “if I am not for myself, who is for me,” when I examine and see how opposite I am to the Creator, then a demand toward Him comes to me: a prayer. But prayer does not mean that I ask or give thanks. A request and gratitude merely signifies that I have reached a definition of the true state, that I have completed the analysis of my current place. Nothing more is needed.

The moment I truly discern my state may be termed a request, a prayer, or repentance; what it is called doesn’t matter. But when I reach this final sensation, then it changes, and I do not need to say anything.

Prayer is defined as the deepest sensation in the heart. After many thoughts, clarifications, and changes, I arrive at the final decision: who I am and what I am.

Kabbalists call this a prayer—the point where I affix my seal concluding the clarification and analysis.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”

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There is a rule that one cannot do anything unless he feels pleasure in it. While doing it, work without pleasure is called “labor” (Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”).

If, on the one hand, I would like to do something, but on the other hand I am unable to do it because I do not see any reward for that action, then this is what is called effort.

We can imagine a reward for almost anything, except for that one thing that goes against our nature: the intention to bestow. As long as it is a matter of the intention to receive, whatever it may be, I can always see some benefit in it.

I can convince myself and picture things in such a way that I find at least some foothold and feel that it is worthwhile. But if we are talking about an action for the sake of bestowal, there is no corresponding pleasure in my Kelim; it is not felt in them, and therefore I cannot perform it.

Try to imagine an action in which you give away everything you have, absolutely everything. If you perform it correctly, you will not be able to feel any pleasure from it. You could find pleasure in the honor you receive or in something else, but we are talking about performing the action correctly.

Thus, there is only one action in relation to which we can put ourselves in a situation where we have no fuel with which to perform it. This is what is called effort. Effort is my attempt to perform an action for the sake of bestowal and revealing that I am incapable of doing so. This state itself is called effort.

Question: And I perform it?

Answer: What do you mean, “perform it”? You cannot, you are incapable of performing it. But when you establish for yourself that this is truly the case, this is already called effort.

It is written that the person would not do this if he did not know he would be paid for the effort. So what should he do? He must increase his awareness of the importance of the intention to bestow. But how? Why?

Here a person finds himself in a situation where he has nothing more to do. He discovers his own weakness, seeing that no matter what he resorts to, his own strength, his nature, his awareness, he has no connection whatsoever with the intention to bestow.

However, if at the same time, a person gathers all kinds of impressions from outside himself, hearing from others that the intention is more important than anything else, while he himself does not feel any taste in it and is unable to achieve it, then he has two extreme points, two poles. And from between these two poles comes the prayer, to which he receives an answer.

These two factors are connected to one another: If I work on recognizing the importance of the intention to bestow, then I am shown more and more clearly that I do not have it. At the same time, I should not work in order to discover my inability as quickly as possible. It is impossible to work negatively; that would be self-deception.

You must work toward actually attaining the spiritual action, toward performing it. Then, in contrast to this, you will be shown that you are incapable of doing it. We must always work positively.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’ in the Work?”

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Question: What one should constantly think about and ask for?

Answer: After all contemplation, a person sees that the only Hisaron (lack, desire) worth worrying about is the desire to realize the greatness of the Creator. Only the realization of His importance, sensing the Creator, the realization of His presence, whatever it may be, the impression received from Him, can change me.

Right now I am a slave to my desire to receive, but I will become a slave to His desire to give and bestow pleasure. A person should work precisely on this Hisaron, that is, strive for the desire for light to come from above and change them.

In short, first there must be an awareness that I want to change, to the extent I am capable of desiring this, and for this I turn to the Creator so that He will change me.

Why should I turn to the Creator? Is it not enough that I want to change and He will simply do it Himself? Change is not my goal in itself. The goal is that by turning to Him with a request, I cling to Him. My transformation, in a sense, is merely a means to that end.

It turns out that we are constantly working on the same Hisaron: how to merge with Him more strongly, cling to Him, and draw closer. From this, I get strength to merge with Him and the need for it. Everything really comes from one source.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/24/26, Rabash, “Who Testifies to a Person”

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Question: If you ask the Creator for something, must you ask only for what you want to receive without specifying the way in which to receive it?

Answer: If a person asks the Creator for something while also dictating how they want to receive it—as if to say, “Help me in this or that specific way,” it means they are setting conditions for the Creator. But do you even have the wisdom to ask for something, assuming, of course, you know what to ask for?

If you ask for something that helps you in your advancement, then, of course, you receive an answer. If you ask for something that is not quite correct, then either you receive no answer at all or you receive something that certainly advances you, but it is not at all what you would have wished for.

Therefore, the correct prayer is a prayer without any conditions, when I ask for what in His eyes is advancement. And whatever I receive, however much I receive, I will accept it all as advancement. But if you already have such a desire, what is left for you ask for? After all, the specific nature of what you receive s no longer important to you since you believe that it represents advancement.

Question: How can one ask the Creator for the surrounding light, the light of AB-SAG?

Answer: In what way can you ask the Creator for the light of AB-SAG?! How do you even know what this is?

We study what the Kli (vessel) asks for. But the Kli asks because it is already in the spiritual world. And there, prayer must exactly correspond to the state of the Kli.

Question: But I do not feel this, so how can I be in connection with the Creator?

Answer: Indeed, you cannot be in connection with Him, in connection with the truth. Not now. But after the Machsom you will have a certain measure of fusion with the Creator—small, like an embryo, or a little more. And then, in accordance with this, you clarify the Kli at each step. You know in what state you are; you know what is the Achoraim (back side) of the upper, which now wants to raise you and can perform certain actions upon you.

Advancement is fully controlled, and knowledge is present in it. One goes, of course, above knowledge, but knowledge itself exists. You are on a certain spiritual degree, which is your knowledge, that is, the measure of filling the Kli with light, the measure of revealing your connection with the Creator, with the soul. And you go above this.

But at the same time, you have an attachment to the vessels, to the light. “Above reason” does not mean that knowledge itself does not exist. This is how it happens with us. We know nothing about our current state. And we struggle to imagine the subsequent states.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

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