Question: What does the external part of the Torah mean?

Answer: The external Torah does not address correcting the intention to receive for oneself into the intention for the sake of bestowal. In other words, a person performs external actions while neglecting internal ones; they do not work on their desires. Their actions are purely external.

Unlike Kabbalah, all world religions invariably include certain external actions, such as rituals. I say unlike because we have complete correspondence between external actions and holiness (spiritual actions). Each external commandment corresponds to a specific spiritual action and has a spiritual root.

Yet, external actions alone do not bring any correction to this world. Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that if we added internal correction of our desires to our external actions, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah as a spice,” and used the Torah for its intended purpose of correcting our egoistic nature, we would transform from mere Jews into the people of Israel.

Currently, we are not yet a people. The nation of Israel (Yashar El—straight to the Creator) is a group of people connected to the Creator. By becoming the nation of Israel, we would receive the place intended for us and belonging to us according to our spiritual root.

The spiritual forces currently descending upon this land do not align with our spiritual state. Today, we are worse than all other nations in terms of our behavior. This means that our place is not in the land of Israel, but among them. They are oppressing us, and we deserve it. This is why we feel so bad on this earth.

Today, this geographical location does not correspond to our spiritual level. We are not corrected to correspond to this place and have no choice but to correct ourselves. There is no other way. In other words, we cannot exist—not as a nation nor can we organize ourselves as a nation in this or any other place—unless we correct ourselves.

The concept of GE (Kelim of bestowal) can only exist in a corrected state, for the sake of giving. AHP can function in any state: corrected or not. Uncorrected GE is impossible; it simply does not exist in reality.
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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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The desire to receive is destined to be filled with the light of the world of infinity. Just as it was infinitely filled before the Tzimtzum (restriction), so too will it be filled after it, in Gmar Tikun (final correction).

This marks the fundamental difference in method of Kabbalah: we never deal with the desire itself. Instead, we acquire an intention for the sake of bestowal through the surrounding light (Ohr Makif), which brings us this intention, that is, the quality of Bina within Malchut.

All other methods cannot make use of the surrounding light because they have no connection to the spiritual source from which this light descends. Therefore, they turn directly to the desire to receive and conclude that it is the source of all evil.

From this they reason that evil must be eliminated. In other words, a person should desire as little as possible and restrict his negative qualities. But this is like cutting off a person’s hands. He may no longer be able to cause harm with them, but has anything truly been corrected?

Therefore, both the desire to receive and all the actions performed upon it remain intact. This is the fundamental difference between the method of Kabbalah and all other methods, a difference that will become increasingly apparent in the near future.

Today, various circles and clubs have sprung up around Kabbalah, each presenting its own interpretation of what the method is. Amulets, red strings, Tarot cards, and a myriad of other beliefs, there is no shortage of such things. Yet all of this serves, indirectly, to clarify what the wisdom of Kabbalah truly is, so that it may emerge as clear, pure, and authentic.

I am glad that all these things are flourishing today. It is a sign that clarification is approaching. These methods should not be suppressed. If, according to the desire to receive, there is still a need for them, if someone can find satisfaction in them and derive some fulfillment, then it means that person has not yet fully examined them. And if he has not examined them fully, he must remain with them for the time being.

That is why Kabbalah does not attack or destroy any method. Kabbalah says that each one has its place and its time, because all of them arise from the human desire to receive. People invent them, develop them, and believe that they can fulfill themselves through them. Until a person reaches recognition of evil and realizes that these methods do not truly fulfill him, he must continue along that path.

Therefore, everything has a right to exist: Chinese methods, Indian methods, and all the others. The more they are allowed to develop, the sooner their limitations will be revealed. Just as we must not suppress the desire to receive, we must not suppress any method that appears capable of satisfying that desire.

But we know that, ultimately, there is no alternative to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method for working with the desire to receive, because that desire is the entire matter of creation. Trying to go against nature will not help us, because nature stands above us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Question: What is the difference between methods that suppress the desire to receive and Tzimtzum (Restriction)?

Answer: In the process of correcting the Kelim (vessels), we reach a state where we restrict the desire to receive, stop using it, and then begin to use it by receiving in order to bestow. What is the difference between restricting the desire to receive and the Eastern methods and other similar approaches that suppress this desire?

The moment a person begins to study Kabbalah, he begins to develop his desire to receive. Nowhere is it written that we must suppress it. Nowhere!

Instead of working directly against this desire, you should work on drawing closer to the Creator, so that the light will correct the desire to receive. The greater this desire becomes, the greater the light you will need in order to correct it. Thus, you attain greater lights for correcting a growing desire to receive each time. This is how you advance.

Through study and by attracting the light, you come to see that every one of your desires is essentially opposed to spirituality, opposed to the Creator, because it is directed toward self-enjoyment.

You reach a state where in order to move from an intention for your own sake to an intention for the sake of bestowal, you must stop using the desire to receive in its natural form. Then you begin to use it in a different way, for the sake of bestowal. Between these two states lies an action called Tzimtzum (Restriction).

What is Tzimtzum? I do not restrict the desire itself, because I cannot suppress it. Under the influence of the light acting upon me, I see that using it in its previous form is evil. And because I see that it is evil and opposed to the Creator, I stop using it in that way. I cease using the former type of fulfillment and move to a different method of using the desire.

The purpose of the Tzimtzum is not to destroy the desire to receive, but to stop using the old form of reception and transition to a spiritual form. My concern should be only with correction, with making the desire to receive similar to the Creator’s desire, meaning that it acquires an intention to bestow. That alone should concern me.

We should not focus on our desires themselves. We should not worry about what desires we have, even the most terrible ones, all of them come from the Creator. I must understand that their revelation within me is a sign that I am capable of correcting them. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the method of reception: It teaches us how to work with the vessels of reception.

All other methods, without exception, are based on suppressing the desire to receive, on receiving as little as possible.

Why are these methods so appealing? Because a person immediately feels that life has become easier. Look at how many people in the former Soviet Union nostalgically remember how good life supposedly was in the past.

There was nothing particularly good about it, but a person knew he had a fixed salary, a home, a job from which he would not be fired, children who would attend kindergarten and school; everything was planned. There was a sense of security about the future. Of course, I did not have much, but neither did anyone else. Everything was suppressed by the government, and “shared suffering is half a consolation.”

Even today, many people would gladly return to those times and to what they had then. Why do I need today’s freedom where everyone does whatever they want? Everywhere there is envy, arrogance, and hatred, whereas before it seemed different. The culture was different, everyone was alike, and everything was planned out.

If not for human egoism, which constantly burns and grows, such a system could perhaps be maintained. In China, it functioned even more successfully for thousands of years. But it is impossible to remain in such a state forever.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Question: It is written at the end of the Introduction to The Book of Zohar that all the troubles in the world come from those who are obligated to engage in the inner part of the Torah but instead engage in its external part. How should we relate to this?

Answer: First of all, look at yourself and see that you, too, are engaging with the external part. There is still an inner part that you have not yet attained and with which you are not yet engaged.

What benefit will I gain from looking at others and blaming them? Am I pointing a finger at someone from the Ministry of Education to the ultra-Orthodox or religious-Zionist educational systems? What will that achieve?

I can accuse anyone I want, but what good will it do? How can I act in a practical way, according to my abilities, as a part of the order, the pyramid that Baal HaSulam speaks about, so that the system functions correctly? Will blaming someone else correct either them or me? All it will give me is pride and contempt.

We have received direction from above, we have, unlike those who do not know where they are. I cannot say anything bad about them; they are like infants. But about myself I can say that if I understand something, then I am obligated to act in accordance with it one hundred percent, as much as I possibly can.
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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 it possible to combine Kabbalah with yoga or any other methods?

Answer: This is impossible because all other methods are opposite to Kabbalah, as they do not use the desire to receive to achieve the goal. All of them are based on the suppression of Kelim (vessels), rather than their development. Just as Kabbalah is a method of receiving, so they are methods of “non-receiving,” all without exception.

Receive as little as possible, eat only vegan food, think less, breathe less, want less, whatever it is, just less. That is, the goal is to lower a person from his level to the level of an animal or plant, or even to an inanimate level.

The source of all this lies in ancient Egypt, where even dead bodies were made into undecaying mummies. These are all Eastern methods. Of course, this has a spiritual root. There is also a justification on a material level.

When you give the masses an ideology based on the assertion that you must lower your desires and then everything will be fine, it immediately bears fruit. It is accepted because it makes sense to everyone. But if, in addition to ideology, we add a spiritual component to this, if we connect it with what is beyond our life and death, and assert that a person will receive eternal reward for this, it will become a religion. This is a great force.

But over thousands of years, the human ego has continually evolved from generation to generation. Whether we like it or not, we realize our egoism, which leads to the so-called development of humanity. As a result of the new desires that manifest in each of us from cycle to cycle, we are constantly striving for something new. Therefore even those nations that were committed to the ideology of reducing desire come to a state where they can no longer restrain it.

Nothing will be left of these methodologies over the course of a century. People who are going to India today are just traveling. No one is really able to engage their methodology. Those who manage to achieve this make themselves into a primitive animal. I do not want to talk much about it, but this is a kind of last Klipa against development. We are unable to resist the process of development of the desire to receive. In 10 to 20 years, all this will pass.

Those who today are able to escape from their suffering into such techniques—to turn off part of their mind, to lower themselves to a very low level, and to really be satisfied with it—such people are not for us. This is a primitive, undeveloped form.

However, the world is developing very fast. After all, all of this is against nature. This is not a correction, but an escape from correction. We will not achieve anything this way, just some kind of temporary artificial consolation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Comment: Difficult events happen to us, but we come here, begin to work with faith above reason, and say that what happened is not so bad, and that over time everything will work out.

My Response: This is incorrect. Baal HaSulam writes that If everything that happens to you is perceived as good, even though you feel it as bad, it is simply a lie. This is called Hasidism.

Herein lies the difference between the knowledge of the landlords and the teaching of the Torah, between religion and the wisdom of Kabbalah. You are simply deceiving yourself: “Whatever the Creator does is for the good, and the blows that come are good. In fact, they are not blows at all, but positive things, I just don’t feel them that way.” All of this is false.

Do you feel bad? Yes! So why deceive yourself? Whom are you lying to? Your heart is in the upper Partzuf. As we study, Ima Elyia (the upper mother) has now turned her back to Aba (father) and does not accept your prayer because it is not genuine. If you continue deceiving yourself, you distance yourself even more from the truth.

If I receive blows and claim that it is good, and even thank and pray for them, what greater deception can there be? How will I reach the recognition of evil and faith above reason? This is exactly what Baal HaSulam speaks about. It means that you are perceiving reality incorrectly.

“A judge has nothing more than what his eyes see.” After you feel bad, you must relate to it according to the principle: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”

Your problem is that you do not want to feel the clash of opposing concepts. You do not want to exist in inner tension. Of course, it is easier to say: “Thank God, everything is in the hands of Heaven, all is good,” or “There is none else besides Him, I live by this, and nothing else concerns me.” Or to be like the religious population that supposedly relies on the Creator. I emphasize “supposedly” because they do not analyze the states they go through. They relate to life this way not because they truly feel it differently, but because they erase reality and cling to a single idea: There is a Creator, and therefore one can remain calm.

They do not live within the real reality through which they must rise, from the level of this world to the level of the final correction (Gmar Tikun) by their own effort, because they do not connect these two points. They seemingly cling to the upper force and think that by this, they have completed the correction.

There is also a completely different life lived by secular people. They believe there is nothing above, we live on this earth, and that is all there is. Between these two poles all of humanity exists. If you are at one of these extremes, you can arrange your life quite comfortably by closing your eyes either to one side or the other, like a non-believer or like a religious person, and have no inner conflict. It becomes a kind of life philosophy.

This is precisely how you want to relate to your friends: “My friend is an angel, the Creator, and I must treat him accordingly.”

But one must see everything at once and examine reality from both perspectives simultaneously.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?”

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Question: For the sake of advancement, should we artificially imagine the suffering of the Creator, that He is so unhappy and suffering, and that through our attitude we supposedly pity and comfort Him?

Answer: This is not our path. We must advance based on the positive, from the greatness of the Creator. If you begin to imagine the suffering of the Creator, the suffering of the Shechina, some kind of wretchedness, then you will evaluate these things in your vessels of reception.

After all, according to the concepts of the vessels of reception, the one who suffers appears to you as unhappy, wretched, pitiable. But if you have vessels of bestowal, then you will see something exalted and great in an unfilled desire. In other words, if I am in vessels of bestowal and want to bestow and regret my inability to do so, this means I am higher.

On the other hand, if I am in a vessel of reception and cannot fill my desires, then I am worse, lower. Therefore, now while in vessels of reception, we are not able to imagine the suffering of the Shechina correctly. It will seem pitiable and wretched to us. We will not relate to the Creator with the proper respect, love, and reverence, which will ultimately draw us to Him. Therefore, all sorts of “games” in this direction are undesirable and harmful.

In various streams of Judaism, such tendencies are observed: as if we must sit, and lament, shed tears, and wail. But the Kabbalists hold a different opinion to such an extent that on the eve of the fast of the 9^th of Av, they would arrange abundant meals that included even meat.

In Poland, for example, it was customary to eat meat during the nine days preceding the fast of the 9^th of Av. And all these customs are directed toward adhesion with perfection, not with deficiency. The deficiency is revealed only to the extent that a person can realize it, and then this unfulfilled desire becomes his vessel.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”

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Question: You said that the higher degree closest to us means that we see how the Shechina clothes itself in all our actions. What actions are we talking about?

Answer: The closest degree, and not only the closest, but in general the degree that a person must always see before him, is the revelation of the Shechina, of how it clothes itself in the whole world, in everything that is in it, in the friends; to see that this single and special force unites all actions in the world, and that he himself is under its power.

This is what the article “There is None Else Besides Him” teaches us. We must constantly keep it before our eyes.

But we must not confuse this with material things. This means that I will not interpret all actions in the material without having revealed the true state, that the Shechina is clothed in the whole world.

Without revealing this, I must not interpret each material action as if it occurs for some spiritual reason. I must not attribute spiritual forces to material objects and items as if I know that it is so.

What special force is there in a red string? I have not yet revealed it. Believe me, I really do not know.

This is spoken of in The Book of Zohar. Do we read the Zohar according to the branches, or according to the roots? If you take the red string in its root and begin to do with it what is written there, then it is clear that this is a spiritual action. But what relation does this have to taking a red string here and tying it on the hand, on the leg, on the ear? What will this give you?

This is used in order to strengthen a person, as the Hasidim did. Did our forefathers two thousand years ago walk around in fur hats, robes, high socks [items of the traditional clothing of some Hasidim]? No. I do not deny that this supports the people. But one must not turn this into some sort of sanctity. Yes, it keeps us within bounds, it distinguishes our actions and thoughts, directs a person, but we must not introduce forces of holiness into this.

We must say: “Yes, we are animals, and our psychology is such that in such and such a way the external part influences and strengthens us.” Correct, this is used in all kinds of movements and will always be used. Consider the many examples in the army, all the various insignia, flags, and so on, which exist only in order to bolster the human spirit. Go to psychologists; they have an entire science about how to influence a person. But do not introduce forces of holiness into this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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Question: Why is Eastern meditation so popular?

Answer: Eastern meditation is very popular in the world. I once visited a group of Americans in North Carolina in an extraordinarily beautiful place in the Smoky Mountains. They have a huge area of land at their disposal.

They receive donations from various sources that allow them to live very modestly, eat, have a roof over their heads, and meditate all the time. They asked us not to drive by car or even pass under their windows so as not to disturb them.

People sit for hours without the slightest movement; a person is completely immersed in oneself. The question is, what tools does he use to analyze it? As far as I understand from the science of Kabbalah, these people suppress their egoism, that is, they stop using it and want to achieve complete peace.

Of course, this is an egoistic desire, but it belongs to the lowest, smallest level of egoism, and therefore a person feels some freedom from the usual press of a huge thickness of egoism. Meditation lowers everyone to a level of egoism to which they can descend to.

Therefore, it seems to a person that he is achieving spiritual revelation. But this definition of the spiritual world differs from that given by the science of Kabbalah. People are able to invest a lot of effort and time with such meditation because it provides a powerful source of nourishment for the ego and brings a sense of comfort and fulfillment.

It is not an easy undertaking; it requires a person to step away from active life, but it offers substantial reward. The group I saw in North Carolina numbered hundreds of people, men and women. Moreover, there was a ban on any physical intimacy between men and women, sex was strictly prohibited.

Man had to rise above all material things and only provide the body with the nourishment necessary for its existence, and devote everything else to inner contemplation.

I have seen other such groups and met with Sufis in England and the USA. I had meetings with people who had a regular audience of thirty million radio listeners in America.

It is quite clear to me what happens during Eastern meditation. People suppress their egoism so much that it almost ceases to be felt. And then they have the feeling that they are floating in the air, above all nature. Therefore, they consider themselves to already be in the spiritual world.

Interestingly, many people use Kabbalistic symbols for their exercises: for example, letters of the Hebrew alphabet, special words (mantras), the names of the Creator “HaVaYaH.” There are even many churches with “HaVaYaH” and the Star of David engraved on them. The Star of David is a symbol of the union of matter and spirit.

This meditation is most successful for Hindus who can disconnect from life to such an extent that they almost stop breathing. The body goes into internal hibernation, all its systems slow down so much that a person can live for many days without food and water and almost without oxygen.

Question: In what world does a person exist at this time?

Answer: He almost doesn’t exist. There is barely any life in the body, metabolism almost stops, so it doesn’t need anything.

Question: Does this not count as rising above matter?

Answer: This is not a spiritual elevation. Elevation requires that a person get out from under the power of the body, that is, the desire to receive egoistic fulfillment, and achieve the desire for bestowal. All Eastern techniques would like to achieve this, but they are not able to because they do not have the strength to rise to the next level.

They only suppress the vital force in a person so that he feels as if he has risen a little above the physical material life, above the animal level. And although it already seems to him that this is a spiritual stage, the science of Kabbalah speaks about a completely different spiritual world.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 509 – Meditation And Contemplation, Part 1,” 1/25/15

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The Torah of the masses means that people engage in actions without demanding a result. The action itself constitutes the result: “Thank God, I am doing what has been placed upon us. And the reward, that belongs to the future world.”

Or one may not even demand a reward at all. One who demands no reward, neither here nor there, is called a complete righteous person. Thus, the actions themselves are considered to be all that is required.

Those of the second type perceive themselves to be growing ever worse. Their actions bring them nothing. A person exerts effort, studies, wants to attain something, and as a result feels himself in unfulfilled desires. Where is the perfection in this? And that which he wishes to attain does not reveal itself in his attainment. This is the Torah of the individual. As it is said: “The view of the Torah is opposite to the view of the masses.”

And yet, when it comes to the examination, it is made according to the result. Therefore, one must understand that all errors (Shgagot) and all transgressions (Zdonot) that a person goes through at the beginning of his path later become the true vessel (Kli), called commandments, merits.

When an error or a transgression is revealed in a person, it signifies that one’s Aviut (intensity of desire) is growing “thicker,” and it is revealed in the form of failures. A person wants to perform some act of bestowal that seems spiritual to him and discovers that he cannot, is unable, does not want to, that he is completely opposed to it.

When such qualities are revealed to him, and he truly sees how opposite he is to it, that he ibears the blame for everything, that he is the worst, and that because of him all have suffered and continue to suffer, then he truly comes to the recognition of errors and transgressions. Time after time, he stumbles, reveals his failures, and then, as he gathers himself, they turn into merits.

It is not upon a person to correct his nature. And if he points an accusing finger at the Creator, that is also incorrect. A person must understand that all errors and transgressions are signs revealing a fracture upon which he must build a correct prayer, a correct request, a correct demand.

Proceeding from this, he no longer wishes for these qualities to disappear. Now they appear opposite to the qualities of the Creator, but they must be transformed into similarity with the Creator. If a person rises above these qualities and sees them as useful, as perfect from the side of the Creator, then undoubtedly, his prayer will be correct, and he will come to the right need: to correct all his flaws into an intention for the sake of bestowal to the Creator.

At the same time, he does not regret that he harms himself and others, that he is inherently flawed. There is no evil; every revelation of evil is only in order to see one’s opposition to the Creator.

Thus, all our work from this point onward must be arranged according to how we build our appeal, the message I send to the Creator. One must formulate it correctly and express that I am ready to receive correction from Him.

If I build my appeal correctly, it means that I know myself, know what in me must be transformed, and am truly ready for it from the Creator’s perspective. Then He performs it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

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