Question: Why is the path to love so difficult and confusing?

Answer: It’s us who are confused.

I am ruled by the egoistic desire and everything I feel and think is only inside of it, for the sake of my own benefit. So how can I make a different calculation—not for my own sake?

Imagine that you “dress” into someone else and begin making a calculation from his perspective. It was a mere 100 years ago that people began to grasp such concepts. It’s not an accident that this period was epitomized by Freud and Einstein, who not only made seminal discoveries, but also had friendly connections with each other.

After hundreds of thousands of years of development, it was a mere century ago that the greatest minds of humanity finally invented psychoanalysis—or in other words, began to analyze man internally on the material level. Only then did they begin to research human perception, “Me and the surrounding world, me and the neighbor.”

This is not simple. It took a very long period of time to approach man’s animate soul, and that’s not even close to spirituality. The entire problem is that we cannot and do not want to dress into others. Society has to ensure that every person will do this, that every person will try to do it and start discerning how he appears in the eyes of the neighbor and what the neighbor wants.

This is very difficult even though it only involves psychological exercises in the plane of our world, which don’t even relate to spirituality yet. Do you want more? Go ahead. Organize an environment that will finally begin to influence you.

The path is long precisely because no one influences you. There is no progress without social influence. Where could a person get the spiritual details of perception? Only from the environment.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati

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Question: How does the way we treat the words written in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) differ from how we relate to your explanation of the text?

Answer: It is difficult to explain why the Creator made it so that we need someone to connect us with the upper reality in our world. It is similar to a mother and father we have in this world, who connect us with life. Indeed, it weren’t for the mother, I wouldn’t be born in the first place and wouldn’t exist until I grew up.

The same goes for the spiritual birth: I need someone who will give birth to me, tend to me till I mature in spirituality! It manifests in the birth of material bodies in our world and also in the birth of the souls, all of which is the derivative of the laws acting in the spiritual world where there is a certain order of spiritual Partzufim, and Aba Ve-Ima (the upper Father and Mother) give birth to ZON and tend to the souls.

But so far, I haven’t linked my broken soul into ZON of the world of Atzilut and cannot cause Aba ve-Ima to work on me; so I need a guide to spirituality! And he, right now, also looks as some material person to me since I cannot see the spiritual world.

The same pertains to the friends: I cannot perceive their spiritual desires and I think I am surrounded by some physical bodies. But later on, I will see that it isn’t so. The teacher and the friends are a spiritual mechanism, spiritual forces with whom I work.

That is how I should treat the teacher and the friends, with an understanding that they are part of the Creator given to me in order to help me connect with Him. In the degree that I value the teacher and the group and lower myself before them, to the same extent I will reach contact with the Creator. I don’t have any other opportunity to connect with Him and no chance to tap into Him in any other way.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: If the key is to draw the Light upon ourselves, why do we so thoroughly discuss the structure of the worlds described in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) during the lesson?

Answer: It’s not our goal to talk about the structure of the worlds in detail; we simply try to grasp some details in order to tap into what Kabbalists tell us about. But when we study TES, as any other source, we first of all must think of the soul since it is there where all these elements I am reading about reside and where all the phenomena occur.

Kabbalists who revealed within themselves the property of bestowal discern what actions they can perform within it, and they write about it. Besides this, there is nothing else. Either we are in some imaginary reality of this world, which doesn’t really exist and dissolves later on, and live in it as in a dream, or we reach the authentic reality of bestowal, the reality of the Creator.

After all, there is “none else besides Him,” and if something actually exists, it’s only there. And TES describes in what form this authentic reality is being revealed to us within our desires.

As a Kabbalist, I can describe to what extent I enter this reality and discover that it does indeed operate in me, how well I connect and begin to identify myself with it. And other Kabbalists do the same. In other words, we all write about the same unification with the eternal upper Light and what we find in it from our black point of creation, the “point of absence.”

When I come in contact with the Light and achieve equivalence with it, I feel how within me various phenomena start occurring, dressing into me from Above downward (the Light of Hochma) or breadth-wise (the Light of Hassadim). These phenomena produce various sensations in me, and I describe them,as I have obtained the opportunity to express them in words and sounds.

But all the impressions we have derive from the encounter of this black point with the Light, where the former becomes similar to the latter. And this is the essence of the wisdom of Kabblah: to find the Light within the black point of creation.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: In one of the articles in Dargot HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Rabash writes that it is forbidden to teach gentiles, meaning egoists, the Torah. What then are we doing here?

Answer: "Forbidden" in Kabbalah means impossible. It would be similar to saying that egoists mustn’t get the upper Light. Try to break this law and we’ll see what happens.

We are talking about the laws of nature, and nature doesn’t ban anything. But if you go against it, you will be punished. “Prohibition” means inability. If Kabbalists write “no,” it means you are unable to do it.

Egoists can’t learn the Torah, or in other words, they can’t study the Torah because an egoist cannot do so in principle. He has no means for it, no tools. After all, he is a gentile and worships his own ego that won’t allow him to establish a connection with the Lights.

The Torah, or the wisdom of Kabbalah, is the method that connects the vessels and the Lights. But if you don’t have the former, you can’t find the latter. And therefore, you can’t learn the Torah since “Torah” is the passages of the Light that expands into desires according to the law of equivalence of form.

Question cont.: So what are we doing during the lessons?

Answer: We are moving toward it. We employ the Torah as the Light that Reforms; we use it as if from a distance.

At a higher spiritual degree, there are the Lights and vessels, and I am cut away from them. But I wish to be at this rung and in the degree of my motivation, I draw from it a small illumination that is preparing me for an ascent.

Thus, I use the Torah as the Surrounding Light but not the Light in the full sense of this word. I am not studying the Torah as such yet. The real study is the expansion of the Lights in the reformed vessels (desires), the interaction between the Light and the desire by way of the screen. That is what the Torah is.

My spiritual “I” is the receiving desire which is reformed by the intention to bestow and able to receive the Light. Wishing to achieve this, we read Kabbalistic books, yearn with all our might, and work in the group in order to somehow express our desire aimed at bestowal.

But a response arrives only in the form of the Surrounding Light. I don’t even know what it is, but time after time, I feel changes within me: a little more understanding, a bit more sensation. It isn’t the Torah yet. The real Torah is something concrete: desire, the screen, and connection between them, which leads to the revelation of the Creator, or the Light in the vessel.

But still, even now we are using the force of the Torah. This is described as: “I created the evil inclination and I created the Torah as a spice since the Light in it Reforms.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, The Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why is it written that “this world is created for none else except Israel” rather than for the nations of the world, although their correction is the goal of creation?

Answer: We need to follow scientific definitions of the wisdom of Kabbalah. The “world” (Olam) means “concealment” (Alama). Concealment is created only for Israel, those who aspire “straight to the Creator.” Those who desire to reach the Creator need to go through concealments, suffering, and blows in order to build within themselves a negative form opposite to the Creator and then desire to reach the Creator’s quality: bestowal detached from reception.

This is the point that we need to reach. Meanwhile, our desire should not be similar to the Creator in all His might. Not at all! You can have a desire that weighs only 1 ounce, but it should be correct! A correct desire means that you feel what it means to be detached from reception. This quality is most important, and we need to experience it.

After all, for the time being we are able to give only if we see a benefit. As it is written, we “trade a cow for a donkey,” as we receive what we consider more preferable. For example, a book is more important than money for me. Then I give money and receive a book. This is called an acquisition.

But why is it an acquisition? Didn’t you pay? Didn’t you give your money? No. What I gave is less important to me than what I received. If I needed to give something of equal value in exchange, I would be unable to do this. I always need to imagine that what I receive is more preferable to me than what I give. And the greater the difference between them, the more it fulfills me since I profit from it: “Look at what I found! It was almost free!”

This is how you live: Your fulfillment should be as preferable as possible relative to what you give in return. And then it is not called bestowal.

How does one feel the separation from reception in order to give and not to receive anything in return? I am willing to work without receiving anything in exchange if I believe that I thereby earn myself the world to come. It is as though I open an account in the future and make installments there. This is even more reliable: No one will take it away and nothing will get lost like in this world.

But how do you feel that you are completely detached from the result of bestowal, that you do not profit in any way from it, and it is completely isolated from you? You work arduously your whole life, and no one, including the Creator, knows anything about you. But you know about it; you work and wish to remain only in this. However, if you work in order not to feel guilty, this is your pay.

So how can we tear away from desires of reception? You need to feel this detachment in as little as one ounce, and that’s all; you don’t need any more than that. Then you are ready for revelation. After all, that is already an image of the genuine quality of bestowal, an image of the Creator.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2011, The Zohar

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Question: Why does the condition of becoming “like one man with one heart” arise only at Mount Sinai and not before, during the exodus from Egypt?

Answer: "One man with one heart" is already a correction which we can achieve only if the Creator is revealed. He performs this correction on us. How can people who are still in “Egypt,” in their egoistic desire, be obliged to unite like one man with one heart?

If I am still immersed into my egoism and I have not yet escaped from Pharaoh, haven’t risen above my ego, how can I unite with others like one man? I escape from Egypt with the help of the Light, due to my desire to come out from there, to jump out of my ego! There is one point in me with which I wish to come out and to which I wish to relate, to identify myself only with it. I wish to connect to others only through these points. For now I merely want this, but I am not in this yet.

We run for salvation together. However, there is no unification between us yet; this whole escape is carried out with the force from Above. We do not understand that we are not doing anything on our own yet. We are only preparing ourselves as much as possible.

It is written: “And the sons of Israel cried out from this work!” We are standing in front of Pharaoh and the Egyptian plagues, and there is no way out: These blows come to us and help us separate from our ego. Who suffers from these blows? The Pharaoh within us, our egoism, does. And I have suffered so much from it that I am willing to break away from it.

Imagine what will happen if some Egyptian plagues befall our world and there will be nothing to eat or drink, no air to breathe—it will be impossible to receive anything if we act egoistically! And then there will be no choice but to run away, not knowing where, into darkness, with closed eyes, only to be saved from a completely hopeless state. We have destroyed Earth and human society and reached a state where every living moment causes terrible pain. It is then that we are ready to run.

For now it is only a general run for the sake of salvation, and not unity. We understand that we need to unite as one man with one heart, but for the time being we are unable to imagine what that is. In order to understand this, we will still need to reach Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred) and go through the Final Sea (Yam Suf) on the way.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How, after the convention is over, can we keep ourselves in the state that we achieved there? After all, there usually comes a downfall?

Answer: We cannot afford it, similarly to how a mother who has a little baby on her hands cannot show that she is sick. There are situations when necessity puts everything else in the background. And only if a mother is on her deathbed does someone else take care of a baby.

In our case, we don’t have time for rest, lofty phrases, and downfalls. The world around us is developing very quickly, while we lag behind and thus must get abreast of its speed. We will feel more and more how all bad things happening in the world are related to us since we are late with our correction.

This is why I don’t even let the thoughts about a post-convention downfall cross my mind: It just can’t happen! Besides, until the summer our schedule is packed with important events: conventions in Italy, Spain, and Moscow. We all have to unite and prepare for them. This is why we don’t have any breaks, everything is compressed in time. And this is good because it corresponds to the speed of changes taking place in the world.
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From the Talk about the Convention 3/25/2011

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Question: What should I do if I am not Jewish and I don’t celebrate Passover?

Answer: Go ahead, celebrate it—what’s the problem? Why can’t you be related to it? After all, you belong to “Israel,” the desire that aspires straight to the Creator (Yashar-El).

Besides, you can celebrate this holiday in honor of the fact that there used to be a group of Kabbalists that went through the entire path of corrections and then broke up in order to help us re-ascend again today. By celebrating Passover, we associate ourselves with this group: not with a nation, but namely with a group of Kabbalists.

Every person wishing to climb out of the current state into the spiritual world has to respect and value this group, which has gone through the path and written books with instructions for us that we can use to advance forward as well. We celebrate and honor our teachers, without any connection to national belonging. We belong to this group and want to be related to it.

Later, when we enter the spiritual world, we will discover that we are together with them, that our group does not only include the friends from the whole world, but also them. Mostly they are all the Kabbalists of all the generations who once turned away from Babylon in order to take the spiritual path. And we are in their group.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is the meaning of the command, “Remember the day when we came out of Egypt” in the sense of a person’s inner work?

Answer: It says in The Zohar, in Item 121 of Chapter "Bo" that the Torah will mention the exodus from Egypt 50 times. Besides that it is written that every day a person must see himself as coming out of Egypt, and that is because all of our work happens only in relation to Egypt.

A person’s spiritual work on correcting his egoistic nature begins from the state of “Abraham”—the rudiment of the quality of bestowal. But how can we develop this quality?

This is why “Abraham’s” question to the Creator emerges in a person: “How will my descendants inherit a great land?” (Chapter "Lech-Lecha"). This means: How can I develop inside of me (because my descendants are my future states) a huge desire of bestowal and love in order to receive Your entire Light from You?

This receives the following answer (from the Creator to Abraham), “Know that your descendants will be in exile for 400 years,” where 400 years are all four levels of egoism. That is, the Creator tells a person that he will become entirely immersed in egoism and will thereby acquire a desire equal to the Light of Infinity.

First you will be permeated by this desire to absorb everything and then you will discover that it is flawed and will desire to come out of it. Once you come out of it, you will begin correcting it from an egoistic desire to bestowal. This means leaving Egypt and entering the holy land.

This way, by gradually correcting the egoism we acquire, we ascend up 125 degrees until the full correction (Gmar Tikkun). Thus, our entire spiritual path divides into three phases:

1. From the initial point (Abraham, the aspiration to reveal the Creator) until entering Egypt.
2. Inside Egypt, where we develop the aspiration to the Creator, which brings about the development of egoism, the realization that it is evil, and the exit from it.
3. The correction of our egoistic desire until its total correction.

Everything revolves around “Egypt”: Part of our path is “before it” and part is “after it.” But Egypt is the central point. That is why a person must feel that he is coming out of Egypt every day, meaning that every day he takes a part of the egoistic desire and corrects it, and receives a new Light inside of it. This is called “a new day.” And this continues on all the levels.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, The Zohar

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Question: I just can’t seem to understand: What is the Light that reforms? And how can I demand it during the study?

Answer: 1. At the very least, try to recognize all of these qualities inside of you which we read about in The Book of Zohar. Try to discern where they are inside of you, “rummage” inside of your desires, thoughts, and inside yourself.

That is how you expand your inner Kelim, desires, and qualities of perception. As you search among them, you begin to differentiate between them. But all of these qualities already exist inside of you.

2. If I don’t have a need for correction, then to me the words “the Light that reforms” are devoid of life. If I require correction, then I expect this Light. But if I don’t have this need, then I don’t know what this Light is.

I am told, “You have to wait for the Light to come.” Fine, so let it come. The sages say it’s good, and I agree. If that’s my attitude, then I cannot attract it.

It is written that one must await salvation at every moment. “The Creator’s salvation comes in the blink of an eye.” This is talking precisely about the correcting Light, the Light that reforms, bringing us back to the Creator.

The action we demand from above must always be preceded by our desire, the need for it. Otherwise it will never happen. Either we elicit the suffering inside of us on our own, which is “the suffering of love,” a passionate desire for the Light, or it will come in the form of compulsory suffering, by the path of “Beito” (in due time).

However, without suffering, without a question and without a desire, I cannot attain the correcting Light. That’s because the Light is at absolute rest. We only need the desire so the correcting Light would influence us.

We could say that the Light is present inside of the desire, but is revealed only when this desire reaches the true measure.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, The Zohar

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