Question: When does my desire (need) turn into a request?

Answer: The desire that resides in the heart is the request. It needs no additional means to become one. I do not take my desire out of my heart, put it into an envelope, and mail it to the Creator.

The desire present in my heart is instantly received by the Creator because the Creator and I dwell together within that heart. Whether I want it or not, the Creator is present within me.

With the help of the surrounding light, I consciously, through my own free choice, gradually correct my desire so that each time it is felt more acutely, becomes more precisely directed toward the goal of life, and no longer turns aside toward the many false goals on which I do not wish to waste my life.

The surrounding light helps me direct my desire toward the right target, toward itself. The surrounding light is the source of a unique frequency, and I want my heart, like a radar, to tune in only to that transmitter, to receive only the source of those waves and no other.

There are millions of other frequencies all around me that could influence me, but I want to tune in only to this one special wave. How can this be done? By means of that same surrounding light: I want it to create within me the need for itself.
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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: I am completely disappointed, what should my next step be?

Answer: I no longer have any disappointment. I have already become disappointed, and I have already parted even with the disappointment itself. What is left for me? Nothing. Only to be in the same state as the Creator. That is, to give everything away, return everything, settle all accounts, be empty, absolutely free.

And after that, if I am fortunate enough, I can begin to think about how to engage in bestowal, how to ask the Creator for the ability to bestow freely, selflessly, with no expectation of anything in return. Why? For what purpose? There is no answer. To whom? There is no answer. Simply as it is written: “Cast your bread upon the waters.”

Question: Is this true freedom?

Answer: Yes. There is no state better than this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/29/26

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When a person feels a certain heaviness in the work, the Sitra Achra arrives and starts to toy with them, leading them astray so they do not know whether they should turn to the Creator or not. In truth, it is worthwhile to turn to Him in every state.

But if the request is not genuine, why do I need to turn to the Creator? Am I simply crying out for the Creator to do the work for me? If I do not feel a need for His help but I still cry and ask for it, then this appeal does not come from the bottom of my heart. What should I do?

Baal HaSulam says there is no better state in a person’s life than the moment that he feels despair of his own forces. He feels that he has tried everything, and that nothing can help him. Such a person is truly worthy to raise his prayer to the Creator, and only such a prayer will receive a response from above.

When does the despair of my own forces come? One can try all kinds of things, making efforts for 20 or 30 years, and who knows when it will end and if it ever ends or not?

Perhaps it is not a matter of quantity, but of quality. It does not matter how many years you spend, but rather how you spent them. What matters is your attitude toward your situation. A person might exert just a small amount of effort, but it is sufficient to turn to the Creator with a true appeal, without a doubt that only the Creator can help him and he cannot do it by himself.

How can one figure this out? At the end of the article “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”, Rabash gives a simple answer that a person needs to see these states one stage deeper. Then he will recognize that the Creator gives them this state. After that, they will discover that they must turn to the Creator for help without delay.

This is very important. All the efforts a person makes by himself without turning to the Creator, are all empty. They lack spiritual significance regardless of how much effort was invested in them. Such actions simply do not count. A person does not even have to perform them as they are merely a waste of time and energy.

I only have to discover that every state that go through comes from the Creator in order for me to turn to Him. If there is some delay between my sensing my state and turning to the Creator as a result of that state, that is already the Sitra Achra (the other side or impure force). That is where confusion and bewilderment set in and where extraneous thoughts and calculations creep in when I try to resolve a difficult situation by myself.

This point is very important; it is like the foundation. It is very difficult to have a hold on that point without the pressure and influence of the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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Question: A person should turn to the Creator in any state. But there are different states, right?

Answer: The states the Creator sends to a person are not different from each other. They are all very simple and create a simple light that fills the entire reality. The states only seem different to you because the light has created a Kli containing many different properties.

And then, under the pressure of the simple light, as you move toward a simple goal, you feel as if you are experiencing different states: good and bad, coming in various forms, contradicting each other, opposite in essence and meaning. However, this is not true. All states come with only one purpose and according to the Creator’s plan—to delight the creation, and with only one intention—to push you toward the source.

The fact that you perceive it in various forms and cannot draw a connecting thread between separate situations while under the pressure of simple light, means that you have not yet reached a certain threshold. A specific trigger has not yet been activated in you; the right button has not yet been pressed that would allow you will see only one thing in each state.

On the contrary, if you start to delve into each state, dissecting it and questioning how it arrives and what it does, you only move further away from the correct action. The correct action is to see the Creator in each state, and remind you that here, in this place, as it is written: “In every place where I mention My Name, I will come to you and bless you.”

You should not overanalyze the state, it suffices to reveal that it was sent by the Creator. Once you have attained this realization—that is it, do not dig into the small details because this will only plunge you into the swamp of egoism. It is enough that you are in contact with the Creator, regardless of how you perceive this contact at the moment, whether in a positive or negative form.

To resolve this state, you need to connect it to the Creator. If you start complicating things, all your other actions will be mere speculation, devoid of spiritual value. The next state may be more profound in its essence, quality, and depth of scrutiny. But as soon as the right trigger mechanism activates in you, and you connect the new state to the Creator and ask to unite with Him—it will be on a higher degree.

That is, you can delve into the state only based on how the Creator illuminates and presents it to you. You cannot make decisions yourself. You cannot say: “Now I will delve deep into the state, into the left line.” You would lose the correct contact with the Creator that way. This is a Klipa (an evil force) that says, “No, you have to suffer to get into the depths of your egoism, and to see how bad you are.”

By no means. You only need this evil to turn to the Creator. You can do it now, immediately.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/26, Rabash, “What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?”

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Question: Can you give an example of a request just off the top of your head?

Answer: Let’s say I have a habit of stealing. I have been caught many times, beaten for it, imprisoned, and so on. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that stealing only harms me.

I begin asking the Creator for help. But I see that it does not help much. Then I start thinking: “Why is it not helping?” It turns out that doesn’t help much because I am asking Him only because I want my life to be better; it is not because I want to become a better person, but because I want things to be better for me. In that case, He does really help.

But if I ask Him to truly make me a better person, then He will help me. Everything depends on the purity of the request, on how much it is directed toward others, and how far removed it is from my own egoism.

Comment: When I ask for things to be better for me, there is no answer. But when I ask to become better, we have changed only one word here.

My Response: Yes, then there is an answer. Why? Because when I ask for things to be better for me,  even if t not through stealing, that is, it is practically a form of stealing. He doesn’t really help with that. But when I ask for things to be better for others, then yes.

Question: So that I become better in my relationship with others? And in that way I myself become better?

Answer: Yes. When it pains me that I am taking from others, then, if I ask Him for help, it will work.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/16/26

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Question: What exactly is revealed to us above reason?

Answer: I do not know what will be revealed to me above reason. For now, I simply continue on the path.

I am told that after I become completely exhausted and despair of my own strength and after thinking, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”, then I will merit the right to turn to Him with a cry for help. I will have nothing else left to do.

The Creator no longer leaves me any hope that I can still try something on my own and thereby attain the desired goal. Only one thing remains in me: a great desire to attain it with absolutely no means to do so, and then I cry out.

I cry out because I see no possibility of moving forward. No opportunities are left to me; no chances are being given.

This is not an ordinary cry born of despair in life. In Kabbalistic terms, it is the moment when a person realizes that no effort within the egoistic will to receive can bring him to the goal. All personal calculations, strengths, knowledge, and strategies have been exhausted.

Only then can a genuine prayer emerge, not a request for fulfillment, but a request for help from a force that lies above one’s own nature.

The paradox is that this state is not considered a descent, but rather a preparation for ascent. As long as a person still believes that he can achieve spirituality through his own powers, he has not yet reached a true need for the Creator. When every other support falls away, the deficiency becomes complete, and from that complete deficiency the real cry is born.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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Aside from obtaining the full measure of the will to receive, giving one all the material one needs for one’s work, this is the degree that brings one to Lishma [for Her sake]. It is as our sages said (Pesachim 50b): “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], as from Lo Lishma, one comes to Lishma.”

One should take every measure suited to come to Lishma, for if one does not strain for this and does not achieve Lishma, he will fall into the trap of the impure maid (Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book of Zohar).

If a person wishes to move from his current state (1) to the next state (2), he must understand what he is striving for. In the first state, he must be able to feel the second state and desire it above all other possible states that may present themselves to him. If he truly desires the second state more than anything else, he evokes a force called the light that reforms, which transfers him from the first state to the second.

This transition does not mean that the fulfillment within me changes: “Previously, I knew one thing, and now I know another. Previously, I felt one way, and now I feel differently.” No. The action of the light produces a different result: previously, I thought according to one system, and now my system of thinking has changed. Previously, I felt according to one system, and now my system of feeling has changed. Through the light that reforms, it is not the content of the mind and feeling that changes, but the mind and feeling themselves. That is how I pass into the next state.

Therefore, already in the first state, a person does not really want to change the fulfillment. That is not what matters. What matters is that the feeling and the mind themselves change. He wants them to become bestowing rather than receiving.

Question: How can one imagine this new pattern?

Answer: It comes through effort and contemplation. Time also plays its role. But if you do not want the process to take a long time, hasten it!

There are two states: the current first state and the next second state. In each state I have both feeling and mind. In both states there is fulfillment, but in the first state the fulfillment is bad, while in the second it is good. I rise above both of them and ask for a new vessel, a new feeling, and a new mind. I ask not for a different fulfillment, but for a different heart and brain.

This is how we advance by faith above reason, from separation to adhesion. What matters to me is not whether the fulfillment within the vessel is good or bad, but what I do above it by raising Ohr Hozer (reflected light).

Question: What is the difference between asking for fulfillment and asking for a new feeling and mind?

Answer: The intention. I change my intentions.

Question: But by nature, the desire wants fulfillment. How can it switch to a different request?

Answer: Through the Ohr Makif (surrounding light), which returns to the source. Through the Torah.

Question: Do I know what I am striving for, or do I simply want something new?

Answer: I know. After all, I am working with my desire. I must at least have some understanding of what bestowal is.

Question: What is the actual process of moving from the first state to the second?

Answer: A change in attitude from oneself to the Creator.

Question: What exactly happens to my mind and feeling during this transition?

Answer: It all depends on what is more important to me. The mind and the feeling are me. The light acts upon me and changes my priorities.

I cannot change myself on my own because I will truly know myself only at the end of correction. For now, I am only somewhat familiar with the “animal” in which I live but not with my true self. I must come out of that “animal,” separate myself from it so that it stands beside me, and only then begin to work on myself. Only then will I begin to know who I really am.

Question: According to what Baal HaSulam writes here, does that mean not everyone will attain the intention of Lishma?

Answer: Anyone who has a genuine attraction to the wisdom of Kabbalah already wants, at least inwardly, to change himself. He may not yet realize it or understand it, but he is already prepared for it. Such a person possesses an inner demand and is not willing to remain as he is. He seeks a true transformation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/13, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”

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During our studies we also have to include the current situation around us in our prayer. We want equivalence of form with the Creator and for the upper force to come and correct us and to make the necessary transformation within us.

I need this transformation not for myself and not even to bestow contentment to the Creator from myself, which is also egoistic, in a slightly different way, but it is still egoistic.

I want that all creations would come to such a level of consciousness where they would understand the goal and would grow closer to Him. Why should the desire be like this? This is the result of caring for the whole world, for all of reality.

A person who includes not only the group, but all of humanity, finds within oneself and activates additional forces of one’s soul for this request. After all, each of us contains all the forces that exist in the world; therefore, the more we expand our request, the more powerfully we activate our soul toward the Creator.

We must consider why it is necessary to do that. This is because we have received the privilege to advance, to ask and demand the Creator to help us fulfill what is entrusted upon us: to be a light unto the nations of the world and to bring the idea of the purpose of creation and how to reach it, to our people and to the whole world. A person has to feel that the blame for the world still not being corrected lies with them. Therefore they must ask for correction.

During the Lebanon War, in the early 80s, Rabash and I went for a walk in park as we usually did. He would listen to the radio every five minutes. At that time, people in Bnei-Brak did not listen to the radio. I was surprised. After all, nobody is interested in this! To which he replied: “They are not interested because they do not feel that their own children are there now.” Rabash felt it!

Therefore we have to understand, even if just intellectually for now, as Baal HaSulam writes at the end of the Introduction to The Book of Zohar, that if something bad is happening with us, with our people, it is happening because those who have received the information from above about how to correct the world and how to draw the whole humanity to the Creator, they are still not realizing this; are not doing their work in its fullness.

Thus, we have what to pray for and a reason to ask for strength in addition to what we usually ask and demand. We have to sense that we are responsible for what is happening.

Therefore, when we try to formulate our request from myself though the group to the Creator, we have to include these things in it as well. They are now coming at us directly, and it is not by accident that we see and feel our life precisely this way. We are obliged to react to this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?”

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Question: Is turning to the Creator the strongest effort a person makes?

Answer: One must seek how to turn to the Creator; it is not done just like that. No one can simply turn to Him.

The moment the Creator reveals Himself to me, either openly or in a concealed form, it means that He is inviting me to turn to Him. It is not simply that I go and search for Him. Where will I search for Him in order to cry out to Him or ask Him for something?

In fact, turning to the Creator, once one has merited His revelation, comes suddenly, as it is said: “The salvation of the Lord is in the blink of an eye.” This happens completely unexpectedly as a result of all the effort that the person has previously made. However, all the work done beforehand is essential. Without it, it would be impossible to experience this state.

Even now we are already in the state of final correction, but does anyone feel it?
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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Question: How should a person prepare and direct themselves during prayer?

Answer: In the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot  (TES), Baal HaSulam writes that during prayer, a person should focus on only one thing—to desire that what he studies in the Kabbalistic books be revealed within him, to strive to know and connect with the material being studied.

But if the subject is so distant that a person cannot see how it relates to what is taking place in his soul, then he should regard it as a remedy.

As it is written: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” And it is also said it: “Heals every illness.” It will give me what is necessary for my advancement; it will come as a remedy, as help from Above.

Question: How can one avoid forgetting this during the lessons?

Answer: If you suffer from an illness, you do not forget about it. Sometimes cancer patients come to see me; they do not forget their illness for a single moment. They are ready to follow any instruction from morning to evening in order to be healed. Without a doubt, they are willing, and they do not forget.

Therefore, everything depends on the recognition of the importance of the goal and the degree of pain. And the importance comes, once again, from the group. Only the group can increase  the importance of the goal, the importance of spirituality, within you.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/26, Rabash, “The Difference between Charity and Gift”

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