Work can only be discussed where there is a place for work. What can one work on? The only thing that exists in all of creation is the desire to receive. How did the Creator create the desire? Through the fact that He departed from it, and an empty place remained as a result. This is the desire to feel the presence of the Creator. This is the first Kli.

Of course, this Kli still has no independence whatsoever, but only a need (Hisaron) for the presence of the Creator. The Creator is the whole of nature, and the Kli is its copy, the Hisaron of this nature. So what? After all, there is still no creation, because creation is something independent, something that acts outside the program of the Creator, outside His desire.

What does “outside” mean? Opposite to the Creator, opposite to Him. How can this desire, created thanks to the presence of the Creator and being His imprint in which there is absolutely no independence and which does not feel anything separate from the Creator within itself, acquire some quality that is completely independent of Him?

The question is: if from the very beginning there exists one single force, one single desire, how can another one emerge from it, completely separated from it? It would seem that there must be some connection, accompanied by control, observation, and guidance. But in that case, how can we call a creation that at a certain stage separated from the Creator a creation if initially it did not exist?

For this purpose, the Creator created a state in which two qualities simultaneously exist: His and the quality opposite to Him. From the comparison of these two qualities, creation emerged. Creation is the result of the sensation of the Creator and the absence of this sensation. The attitude toward the presence of the Creator, based on the difference between “feeling” and “not feeling” the Creator—this is creation.

Creation is called a screen, intention, and, of course, it was formed from Hisaron. But this Hisaron must be special: the lack of sensation of the Creator’s presence develops into a need to feel the Creator and comes to a desire to establish a relationship with the Creator Himself.

Here, there are three parameters: Hisaron, pleasure, and that which establishes the relationship between them. All this is called Kli, light, and the screen between them. We can speak about the existence of creation only when we have these three parameters. But if one of them is missing, then the concept of “creation” cannot exist.

Thus, everything depends on the desire directed toward the presence of the Creator, on the relationship between these two diametrically opposite entities. A person is a preparatory Kli, more precisely, not even a Kli yet, but the one who must become a Kli, a creation. And if the correct desire does not begin to form within him, that is, the desire for the presence of the Creator, then he cannot, in his work, begin to determine the intention: in what form he is ready and agree with His presence.
[359754]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/26, Rabash, “What Are “A Layperson’s Vessels,” in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Beginning of the Development of Creation
The Purpose Of Creation And The Development Of Desire
What Is Creation Capable of Feeling?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work, Structure of the Universe - No Comments →

Comment: Let’s take a month off, gather together, isolate ourselves in nature, and study The Study of the Ten Sefirot every day for ten hours, The Book of Zohar for six hours, and speak only about what is written in the books so we can draw more and more light each day.

My Response: Why shouldn’t we try such an approach: to escape from this world for a while, though not forever?

By the way, “not forever” already indicates a certain imperfection. After all, if we are speaking about something good, something that leads to spiritual ascent, then you should simply do it. Why compromise?

You are saying that we should withdraw in order to gain strength, acquire the right direction, establish ourselves in it, and then bring this world into the state we have already attained. Let us leave this hectic world, cross the Machsom, and then return to this world and begin drawing it into the spiritual world.

The problem is that this question stems from not seeing that the state in which we now exist is itself the degree called “this world.” It is the lowest, the smallest, and the darkest degree. Yet, it is only one among many degrees. How can I leave it if I do not work with what exists on it?

I have been placed into specific surrounding conditions that are, in essence, my own qualities copied outward. I see the surrounding world according to how I am arranged within. If I were to arrange these qualities differently within me, then instead of “this world” I would see the spiritual world, which would replace the picture of this world as a lower degree, as a lower level of perception compared to the one built above it.

So how can I free myself from “this world” if everything that exists in it now is nothing but my own corrupted qualities? Without correcting them, I cannot rise to a higher degree. How can I run away from that?

One may perform certain actions that seem to separate him from this world in order to strengthen himself a little. However, afterward, I must return to the original degree in order to reconnect with it, receive more and more Aviut (the depth of the desire to receive) from it, and continue studying with this additional Aviut, wishing to purify it.

Then I return once again to work, to my family, spend time with my children and my wife, and deal with all the external concerns of everyday life. After that, I return once again to study for several hours in order to correct what I have absorbed from the surrounding environment.

But if I do not absorb these things which constitute my Aviut in order to correct them, then why should I study? Why should I come to correction? What is the surrounding light supposed to influence and correct? If I were already pure, what would the surrounding ight attach itself to? What would it have to work on?

Therefore, we have no other choice but to immerse ourselves repeatedly in “this world,” bring it to correction, immerse ourselves in it again, and once more bring the desires absorbed from it to correction.

Thus, our work consists, in general, of three main states:

1. This world, with all the “brainwashing” it constantly imposes on me.
2. Then I come to the group, wanting it and not the external society to “brainwash” me instead and thereby help me.
3. Finally, with the Aviut I have acquired from the external society, and with the desire I have received from the group to free myself from it, that is, to purify it, I begin the study.

In the end, we have three states or, I would say, three means. Based on them, we build our daily routine. The fact that you sit here for several hours is your escape from evil in order to study the Torah in a quiet place.
[359185]
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”

Related Material:
Alone with Oneself, Part 1
Why Does This World Exist?
An Imaginary World We Cannot Do Without

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

When the Creator is revealed to us, we are, as it were, in a state of goodness and are able to justify Him. But when He is not revealed, we find ourselves in a state of evil and curse Him. What does it mean to curse Him? We curse the state we find ourselves in.

Then what depends on us? The pace of our advancement. Moreover, the direction we choose also depends on us, and ultimately this is expressed in the pace of our advancement.

It is said: The Creator places a person’s hand upon the good fortune and says, “Choose this for yourself.” Suppose a person does not wish to choose what he has been shown. He was offered the opportunity to come and study, but he did not take it seriously. Besides, he is still young, not even married. “I’ll come to it when I’m at least 30 years old.”

In other words, the person did not strengthen himself in the choice that the Creator had given him. As a result, several years were lost. This is what it means that a person chooses the pace of his advancement: either he strengthens himself in the direction that has been shown to him or he chooses another direction.

One may ask, “But is this really in his power? Is everything not under the Creator’s governance?” One could say that about everything. But here the question is whether a person used the opportunity that was given to him or not.

The Kabbalists say, and this is concealed from us, that throughout your life you exist in a state of apparent freedom. Yet know this: There is only one thing in which you are truly free —the purpose of creation, your connection with the Creator.

Free choice exists only in making use of the opportunity to connect with the Creator. The Creator calls to you: “Draw near to Me.” If you do not do so, that is your choice. In everything else, whether to eat ice cream or chew gum, watch football or go to sleep, it makes no difference. Nor does it matter who I am: a criminal, a thief, or an upright person. In all these things, we choose nothing.

There is only one point of free choice: whether you desire a connection with the Creator or not.
[359387]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
The Point of Choice: Toward the Creator
When Time Compresses
The Only Opportunity for Free Choice

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: By what can a person determine his state?

Answer: A person cannot assign a definition to his own state. He is not the master of his states. He is only capable of discerning the state he is in, measuring it, and evaluating it.

He can evaluate his state according to the degree to which the Creator is revealed to him. For example, I feel bad. I am immersed in evil, completely absorbed in it. I have nothing in my life. Who am I? What am I? I do not know. I simply feel bad.

Then, suddenly, I remember that although I truly feel bad, this state is necessary because I am going through a certain process, and there is a purpose in my being in it.

Having passed through this bad state, I take a lesson from it, and through that I become worthy of knowing the good. It is precisely in this bad state, in this evil, that I begin to understand more and discern more.

Then, when I enter a good state, I will be able to understand that evil and speak about it from an entirely different perspective. The greater the contrast between the bad and the good states, the more I come to know. The greater the confusion, the greater the understanding and attainment that follow.

So what determines the state I am in? It is determined by the extent to which the Creator is revealed to me within that state. If He is revealed to me just a little more, then, despite the fact that I still feel bad, I open the book Shamati and begin to understand that this is not such a terrible state after all. It is simply a stage on the path that I must go through. Then the state is no longer so bad. It is unpleasant in sensation, but favorable for spiritual advancement.

For example, I am building a house. A shipment of concrete blocks has arrived, and I have to carry them up to the second floor. What do you focus on, the hard work itself or what will ultimately come from it? If you see the goal, then carrying the blocks is not so difficult. But if you look only at the state that you are in now, as an ordinary laborer rather than the owner of the future house, then, naturally, carrying the blocks feels like hard labor.
[359381]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
Assess Your State
For The Essential Changes
Keeping The Record Of All My Moves

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What if you suddenly realize that you were mistaken? And you have already put all your cards into this one thing. You found what seemed to be your life’s work, and suddenly it turns out that you were wrong.

Answer: Then you must invest yourself beyond all limits into that one and only thing that remains for you, in which you now feel and discover that you were mistaken, that it is not the main thing and besides it, nothing else remains. Otherwise, you will be lost.

Question: You just said something that is not simple. You said: “You already understand, you now feel that this is a mistake, and yet invest yourself in it completely.” Above reason?

Answer: Of course. But that is only if you are certain that you have nothing else left, that you have given this matter everything, your whole life.

Question: And what will happen then? Here I am, walking into this black hole.

Answer: Then the Creator will help you. Then He must help you. In principle, this is exactly how it happens in Kabbalah.

Comment: There are all kinds of states.

My Response: There are many states, but in the end, we all arrive at just one.

Question: So that the Creator will help?

Answer: In a state of absolute disappointment in yourself, in the Creator, in the matter itself, in the goal—in everything!

Comment: After having invested your whole life into it.

My Response: Yes, and when you reach such disappointment, then you can let go of everything, and you will see success.

Question: Kabbalists write that when you have passed through all the gates, only one gate remains: the “Gate of Tears.” Is this what you are referring to?

Answer: This is beyond tears.

Question: You have already passed the “Gate of Tears”? So, your advice is to keep striking at that point until the very end?

Answer: If you can still keep striking and striking, then these are not yet the final gates.

Question: So this disappointment must be there? It must?

Answer: Absolutely! Because it goes against human nature itself, against the way the Creator created us. Therefore, it must be absolute disappointment.

Question: Where is the upper mercy in all of this?

Answer: It is beyond this. When the Creator leads a person through all these trials, then beyond them, the person reveals the Creator’s upper mercy.

Comment: One would have to be a very strong person.

My Response: No. I think no one is strong. Everyone is very weak. The Creator will do everything.
[359158]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 7/1/26

Related Material:
My Favorite Job – Vocation Or Mission?
The Last Gates
When Do the Gates to the Creator Open?

Filed under: News, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How can I hold on to “There is none else besides Him” when I am engaged in various things that distract and confuse me by bringing either pleasure or suffering?

Answer: First of all, one must believe that all these things are given to me so that through them I will gradually determine that “There is none else besides Him.” This must be the goal.

You should make reminders for yourself, create a system, strict frameworks, so that all of this compels you every 15 or 30 minutes to return to the same state. Everything should mechanically remind you of the Creator. After that, you will already be able to work independently.

Naturally, at first there is no taste in this, but over time it comes. Through these actions, which seem to have “no benefit,” you draw the surrounding light, and it influences you in a general way, so that you remember and constantly remain in this awareness.

Gradually, you come to a state where you feel that you are, at least, no longer in double concealment but in simple, single concealment, where the Creator is constantly present in the background, yet you feel that He is concealed.

With my teacher, Rabash, one could feel that he was never disconnected from the Creator, and this made a very powerful impression.
[359670]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”

Related Material:
Don’t Disconnect from the Connection with the Creator
In the Same Direction
Don’t Disconnect From The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The purpose of creation is to bring a person to a state of absolute goodness and eternal bliss. This is, without question, the Creator’s degree. In order to attain such a state, a person must first of all desire it.

But in order to desire it, while still existing in the opposite state, he must gradually reveal that very opposition within himself, feel more and more deeply how bad it is, and how good it is to possess a desire for spirituality.

All the work on the desire is performed by the light, by the Creator, not by the person himself. Therefore, all he has to do is reveal his true state each time, the state in which he presently exists, from there strive toward the next state, and draw one degree closer to the Creator.

Everything that is required of a person is to determine the direction of his desire, the aim of his aspiration. This is what is called intention (Kavana). The word “Kavana” comes from the Hebrew “Lechaven” (to direct), that is, to determine the direction in which I want to advance.

What does it mean to ask, “What is your intention?” It means: Where are you striving to advance? What do you want to attain? What is your goal? A person needs to determine only this. Everything else is done by the Creator.

The light corrects the Kelim. If necessary, it first spoils them, then corrects them, fills them, and empties them. Through its expansion and departure, the light builds the Kli. The light does everything.

The Kli, however, possesses a kind of point of awareness that enables it to determine and discern the state in which it exists, recognize the evil of its present condition and the state it wishes to attain: what its direction is, what its intention is, in other words, what the next desired place is.
[359338]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
The Beginning of the Desire for Spirituality
Good State
Under the Authority of the Creator

Filed under: Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Which criterion can we use to constantly check whether we are in the right environment?

Answer: The right environment is an environment that guides a person’s thoughts and desires to connect with the Creator with maximal force.

The right environment is all my inner qualities relative to my point in the heart, which connects me with the Creator. Everything else in me must contribute to this point of connection with the Creator.

My properties, desires, and aspirations are called my environment. My “I,” which is called “Moses” in me, that is, the point where the formation of the soul begins, can grow only in the right environment.

Rabash writes that there must be an initial state, stages of development of this state, the environment, and stages of development of this environment. If all this works together for the connection with the Creator, optimal conditions are created for the development of the soul.

I have to check which of these four parameters I can influence and which I cannot. It is a pity to waste time, for this is our work. There are many people who waste their breath, unable to see that their pursuits are empty. Of course, they will understand this over time, but it is a shame to make an effort only to realize the mistakes.
[359330]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
Create the Right Environment
Proper Environment
Choose Who Will Lead

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why is it necessary to put pressure on the group so that it is more precisely directed toward the goal? What does it mean to put pressure? It seems as though the group is constantly resisting this.

Answer: No, the group simply consists of people just like you. Putting pressure on them is also part of your free choice.

By placing yourself under the influence of your friends, as if standing under a shower so that they may influence you and cleanse you, you must also examine exactly how they are influencing you. Maybe they are being frivolous; maybe you are sitting in the “company of mockers.”

You must constantly demand that the group improve.
[359228]
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”

Related Material:
Awaken the Group
Until the Light Changes Us
For The Sake of Bestowal

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What should one expect from the commandments of the Torah?

Answer: A “commandment of the Torah” consists of extracting the concept of the “Torah of life” from the Torah, attaining life itself. Baal HaSulam writes about this in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot). He refers not to the study itself, but to its result.

Question: Suppose a person is sweeping the floor in our building or working in the kitchen. Is this considered that he is studying Torah?

Answer: If I do something in our kitchen and intend thereby to attain something in my life, then the desire that arose in me at that moment, multiplied by the good, beneficial thing that I contributed to the group, that is, multiplied by the group’s collective desire to attain spirituality, becomes my own desire.

By serving my friends, I thereby acquire their desires, include myself in them, and then those desires influence me, and direct my own desire into the proper course.

As a result, during the lesson I intend to draw the light of the Torah that reforms from what I study, not to become a great sage or anything else.
[359231]
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”

Related Material:
The Light Of The Torah And The Influence Of The Mitzvah
The Mechanism of the “Torah and Commandments”
Fulfill the Commandments “In Practice”

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →