Question: Is there always a fear in a person that the Creator will not give him something?

Answer: Such fear is always present in a person. If I believe even a little that I receive from the Creator, then I am afraid that He will not give to me. Then I run to the synagogue, give a donation, or do anything at all, just to receive from Him.

This has nothing to do with Kabbalah. Kabbalah speaks about how I should relate to the Creator so that He will be pleased, without any connection to myself.

First of all, we make a restriction (Tzimtzum) and acquire the qualities of Bina, which are not connected to any calculations regarding ourselves, but exist solely for the sake of bestowal (“Al menat lehashpia”). We cover our desire to receive so that it has no contact whatsoever with receiving, and only then do we begin to receive for the sake of bestowal.

The method of Kabbalah is the only method that works in the opposite direction. All other methods are based on the principle “I give to You, You give to me.” This is trading, calculation: You want commandments? I will fulfill the commandments, and You fill me, my life, give me health, some money, honor, respect, a family so that everything will be fine.

Hasidism and other methods are built on this approach.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/26, Rabash, “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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Question: We study that freewill consists of choosing one’s society. Is this, essentially, our only choice?

Answer: We are not precise when we say that our only choice is the society we need. It is more correct to say not society, but environment, because it is a broader concept.

The environment includes the books, the sages who wrote those books, friends, the teacher, and everything except the Creator and me (if a person believes there is something in him).

Thus, I must say that the forces of the Creator and the force within me are the same Creator, only manifested from different sides. Therefore, if I decide something, or it seems to me that the Creator decides, it is, in fact, the same source.

If I want to acquire some force other than the Creator who, according to my perception, is outside of me, or other than the Creator that is in me, meaning apart from the nature He created and with which He endowed me, then I need something external, something outside. Everything outside is called the environment.

As Baal HaSulam writes about a wheat seed that is place it in the soil in the article “The Freedom.” What do you have besides that seed and the environment in which it is placed?

It is the same with us. If we want to arm ourselves with any additional forces—forces that, as Baal HaSulam explains, we choose—and our independent choice entirely constitutes our individuality, the expression of our own “I,” then it turns out that nothing else remains.

I should not turn to my own nature, because all of it is the Creator, and I should not turn to the Creator. Do you understand the paradox? I should not turn to Him! Because every turning to Him is planned by Him; He programs it.

So, what am I supposed to do?! If I have the power to turn to the Creator, then it turns out that He is turning to Himself?! Then who am I here?! A puppet?! By fulfilling what the Creator placed in me, I turn to Him.

The point is that I must turn to the Creator with what I acquire from the outside, through my own free choice. Outside of me, the Creator intentionally creates several sources of inspiration, and I am impressed by each of them in different ways. For me, the main inspiration is the one that directs me toward the Creator. In principle, the result of that inspiration does not matter; what matters is what I choose.

Now the question arises: “So what exactly am I choosing?” After all, the Creator placed all my inner nature within me, so where does choice begin? Again, from the very force that He placed in me.

As Baal HaSulam said: “The Creator places a person’s hand upon a good fate and says: Take it.’”

Meaning: choose this environment and not another. And a person must strengthen himself in that choice. Ultimately, the choice is not in the environment itself (the Creator also points me to the environment), but in strengthening and in holding on to what He has shown.

You must not have the slightest doubt about whether free choice exists! It does! However, you attain it not by your own power, and the discernments are also not yours. Free choice is not attained by searching for new continents. But the moment when you feel something that directs you toward the Creator, you must apply all the forces of your soul to strengthen yourself, to remain on the right path, and to hold on to the inspiration you already have.

The result, of course, does not depend on you; that is clear. How much you hold on to the group will be the result.
[352426]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/26, Rabash “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

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It is written, Be careful with the sons of the poor… from them, Torah will emerge. A person who feels poor, who does not have real Kelim (vessels) to receive the light of the Creator’s revelation, is called a poor man. For example, “poor in knowledge.”

What does “be careful” mean? The fact is, a person neglects such states, does not want them, and flees from the feeling of poverty when he has nothing. After all, the desire to receive, egoism, is unwilling to suffer, such is its nature.

A person always calms himself down and glosses over the feeling that he lacks something, that something is wrong with him. He does not feel ready to reveal his true desires.

Egoism is ready and likes to give him the opportunity to feel sorry for himself and to “gnaw” at himself, but this is not called a feeling of poverty.

Here, the feeling of poverty is a lack of strength to bestow, and here the desire to receive leaves us no opportunity, it always leads us away from it. Therefore, it is written: “Be careful with the sons of the poor,” that is, we must pay attention precisely to the consequences of feeling poor, to what I demand as a result of this. After all, it is precisely from this demand that the Torah comes through, and it is from here that the light that returns to the source comes. The Kli for receiving correction is called “the poor.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18-19/26, Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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Question: How can a person look at others and see them as flawed, see their desire to receive in an uncorrected form, but not see it in oneself?

Answer: How is it that a person looks at others and sees they are all in the desire to receive, but he is not?

Rabash gives a very simple example: I have a child, and the neighbor has a child. My child is cute, adorable, smart, and well-behaved. I look at him and see a small man. But when I look at the neighbor’s child, he looks dirty, ignorant, neglected, rude, and loud. Why? It is all in the attitude.

Is my child unlike the neighbor’s? They are both children, there is no difference, but in my child, I see the good half, and in the neighbor’s the bad half. That is, both you and your friends are the same. It is only that I can justify myself, I know why I am like this. But why is the friend so? That is the difference.

Later, you will discover something different, you will see negative things in yourself, and positive things in your friend, and then you will start to envy him. This will be a good envy. At first, it is bad, and then maybe good, when you want to be closer to him to learn from him and grow stronger with his help. You will bestow on him, and he will reciprocate.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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Now you can understand their words about the verse, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.” The Sanhedrin (98) interpreted, “Not rewarded—in its time; rewarded—I will hasten it.”

Thus, there are two ways to attain the above-mentioned goal: through their own attention, which is called a “path of repentance.” If they are rewarded with it, “I will hasten it” will be applied to them. This means that there is no set time for it, but when they are rewarded, the correction ends, of course.

If they are not awarded the attention, there is another way, called “path of suffering,” as our sages said, Sanhedrin 97, “I place upon them a king such as Haman, and they will repent against their will,” meaning in its time, for in that there is a set time, and they will want it (Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” p.7).

Before us there are two paths for attaining the very same goal, and we stand at their crossroads. Every moment we must feel ourselves at this crossroads that determines our free choice. And the choice here is very simple: to go by the path of light or by the path of suffering.

There is no third path! We are obliged to advance by one of these two paths, and at every moment we must decide how to take the next step. The foot is already suspended in the air; choose where to place it: on the path of light or on the path of suffering?!

A moment will pass, and again you will have to make the same choice. From above, your foot is lifted, compelling you to take a step, and you must decide where to lower it, onto which of the roads. And according to this, you will receive the forces and means for advancement, because in any case you are obliged to move forward.

But if you advance by the path of Beito (natural development, in its time), then the forces of nature push you forward against your egoism, since you wish to walk in accordance with your ego. And therefore, forces act upon you that oppose your egoism and try to keep you in bestowal.

Through the path of Achishena (accelerating time), you yourself begin to persuade yourself, through the environment, that it is worthwhile to be in bestowal, and in this way, you draw the surrounding light, which returns you to the good, upon yourself.

On the path of Beito, you receive blows, and you learn from them, until in the end you also come to a request, a prayer for correction, and advance, just as when following the path of Achishena.

And if you immediately take the path of light, you save time on the first section of the path where you would have lost it by not wishing to listen and to apply your own efforts.

There is no time for deliberation over which path to place your foot on! Everything depends on the preparation of the environment.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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What is the Creator’s game with us? It is to be in union with the Creator above our sensations in the desire to receive.

If the Creator were revealed, a person would not be able to leave the feeling of connection with the Creator, with the root. One would be forcibly merged with Him and would never be able leave the system of reward and punishment. A person would not be able to build himself, because he would neglect the sensations in the Kelim (vessels) and would be merged with the Creator.

The Creator would suppress one’s feelings in the Kelim of reception. We see that sometimes we are so excited that we are ready to give everything, and we want to remain in a state where material things are unimportant. This happens if we feel the illumination from above for a while. But this situation connects us to the Creator, not by our choice or our decision, and not against the Kelim of reception. This is not the right path.

Therefore, faith is called the result of feeling the Creator when He is important, great in my eyes, rather than because He fills me.

We need to achieve a “true-false” assessment rather than a “bitter-sweet” feeling, so that truth and falsehood determine how I act and what I decide, rather than a bitter or sweet feeling in the desire to receive.

If I move from the feeling of bitter or sweet to the understanding of true and false, it is considered that I rise above reason. This is only possible if I make a full reversal. I need to consider that focusing on the true-false category is more important because it adheres me to the upper.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash, Article 28, “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

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When a person crosses the Machsom and already has vessels of bestowal, the Creator again begins to reveal reward and punishment to him, and the person, despite this, must still prefer connection with the Creator because he wishes to be merged with the true life, with its root.

If earlier he judged the Creator according to reward and punishment in the vessels of reception, now he judges Him according to reward and punishment in the vessels of bestowal. By this, the vessels of reception are joined to the vessels of bestowal, and this is called that he corrects the double concealment first and then the single concealment. Thus, the Creator constantly works with the created being. In His “game” with the will to receive, He can raise the created being above this will each time.

When He gives a greater will to receive, then reward and punishment appear to a person as greater, and based on them he adheres to the root. This is called going in faith above reason. And so, he connects with the Creator more and more until his entire will to receive enters into action, that is, reward and punishment become enormous and fill the whole volume of the soul.

It turns out that he has completely realized reward and punishment in order to fully adhere to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

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In the course of humanity’s development, the desire to receive in every person grows, and they suffer more and more until they reach a state where they simply must reveal the cause of their suffering, but are unable to do so. They try to avoid suffering, but cannot. Both internal and external suffering comes methodically, surrounds them from all sides, yet all of it is directed toward its cause, toward the Creator, so that a person will find this cause.

If a person knew how to cope with suffering, say, through correct actions, they would achieve pleasure or positive states; and if they committed bad actions, they would receive punishments. Then reward and punishment would be revealed, and they would learn to distinguish what is beneficial and what is not, and they would need nothing more.

Since our very substance is the desire to receive, if we knew how to fill it through certain actions, that would be enough for us. We would never inquire about anything else because a person asks only about what concerns him, according to the desires of his heart.

But the Creator’s governance is hidden, and it does not become revealed to a person in our world until he crosses the Machsom. It is precisely this concealment that helps him reach the cause: the one who sends him all the situations in life because he develops a great desire to know why this is happening to him, not how to be free from suffering, but where it comes from and for what purpose.

Thus, he comes to the Creator and begins to reveal His greatness. Then the importance of the Creator’s greatness and “reward and punishment” switch places for him. He begins to understand that reward and punishment are not what matter; the main thing is to be in connection with the Creator.

In this way, he becomes included in the Creator, within the cause, wants to merge with it, and to the extent that he does so, vessels of bestowal are formed within him. This is called crossing the Machsom.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/26, Rabash “What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?”

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“Israel” and the “Torah” are the same thing. 

[Initially the Torah is an instruction for correcting evil, called 613 pieces of advice for correcting 613 parts of egoism.]

1) The Torah is regarded as 613 counsels, 613 tips for subduing the evil.

[And after the correction, the Torah is the portions of the Creator’s light corresponding to each of the 613 corrected organs of the soul.]

It follows that while performing the Mitzva, one extends to its corresponding organ in his soul and body the degree of light that belongs to that organ and tendon (Rabash, “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”).

Question: How can one most simply explain to a person what Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are, and what the meaning of their unity is?

Answer: We exist in an unchanging state, as it is said: “I did not change.”

This single state is called Malchut of the world of infinity. The Creator, who wished to bestow goodness upon the creation, made it in a matching state of benevolence.

But in order to feel this beneficence, creation needs to go through various transformations that develop  desire and appetite, that cause despair, troubles, and agitation within it, in other words, that cause sensations opposite to the sensation of the good who does good. Otherwise, creation would not sense Him.

However, so that the sensations of the good who does good, as well as their opposites, would not strike creation like a double blow, the Creator arranged it so that we gather unpleasant sensations drop by drop, gradually, in small portions. “Ouch!” and that’s enough. Again “Ouch!” and that’s enough. Thus, we move along the path, clarify our desire, and learn what is good and what is bad.

Overall, we must be sensitive and receptive to good and evil. The more sensitive a person is to recognizing evil, the higher their degree and the deeper they penetrate into the substance of creation.

Therefore, in the unchanging state that the Creator made, the desire to delight for the sake of bestowal already exists that is corrected by the proper intention, as well as the light that fills this desire and intention. There they are all united without any distinction. This state is called “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

Israel (ישראל) is a vessel, a Kli, with the intention to bestow to the Creator, in other words, “straight to the Creator,” Yashar-El (ישר-אל). The Torah is the entire light that corrects and fills it. And they are one because they have reached a state in which they are completely equal and exist in adhesion.

Equality and adhesion between the Creator and the creation is the only form in which they exist. Each creature gradually reveals this form once the desire to reveal it awakens within.

By revealing emptiness in our current state and in the matters of this world, the Creator gradually leads us to a sense of emptiness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness of our life. At the same time, He awakens the beginning of a spiritual Kli, the seed of recognizing evil, within us. My state is miserable not because it is dull in taste, but because I lack adhesion with the Creator.

I realize this gradually. At first, I do not understand at all what I need, like a child who doesn’t know why he cries. But little by little the details emerge, become clearer, appear within me, and I begin to hear something.

Then I come to a group, to a teacher, and for several years I undergo the influence of the light in various states that I experience together with the teacher, the books, and the group. The process continues, and I become slightly more sensitive to recognizing evil. And the evil lies in the fact that I do not want to connect to the books, the teacher, and the group. When I begin to feel that this is precisely my evil, then I take the correct course toward correction.

At the same time, I understand that I must unite with the friends, receive awakening from them, acquire their mind and feelings, merge into them. I include myself in them, in their desires and intentions directed toward the goal. And for this inclusion, I must draw the light that returns to the source; in other words, I need to study together with them and attract the light.

If this occurs, I accumulate the necessary amount and quality of effort and come to the correction of my vessels.

Naturally, this process consists of a whole series of actions. I cannot withstand major corrections or big leaps all at once. Therefore, there are many degrees, divided into steps and sub-steps through which I reach the state of which it is said: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” I already exist in this state, but it reveals itself within me gradually.

We could not bear everything at once, because this unity is too opposite to our nature.
[35942]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Rabash “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”

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Question: Suppose a person feels that they lack some quality in order to advance. Can it be acquired?

Answer: You have nothing to complain about. A person is structured in such a way that everything within them is ideal for their advancement, no more and no less. Precisely these qualities, even the very worst ones are what help a person.

Everyone has something of their own that seems negative, but in the end, you will see how this very quality, and even what appears as a deviation, is the most useful thing. After all, it is the result of the forces of the soul, and without this quality, one would not be able to correct it.

It does not matter what you feel along the way, all these things are useful. You are not required to figure out whether you have stopped advancing or not, you do not know that. Only one thing is required of you: to realize your freedom of choice. to draw from the group forces for advancement that are greater than those given to you by the Creator.

At first, we do not have such forces. We are given an initial push, the rest we must obtain from the group ourselves. If we can do this, we advance; if not, we do not advance. The problem is that we acquire various kinds of knowledge and sensations, and it seems to us that this is an advancement. But it is not. One can continue like this for 20 to 30 years, and there will be no advancement at all if we do not receive additional forces from the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18-19/26, Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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