The Kabbalists tell us about free choice. They do not conceal the fact that we are animals. What does “animals” mean? It means having no free choice and acting according to a predetermined program. They say that our free choice lies only in the choice of environment. But even this choice, although concealed from us, is the result of our internal and external conditions.

Nevertheless, it seems to us that we choose for ourselves, and we must make use of this. You cannot simply take a law of a higher degree and say that there is no free choice, that nothing matters and that you live like an animal, so come what may.

But if it is  truly “come what may,” then do not breathe, do not eat, and do not do anything at all. Are you capable of that? No. Therefore you must conduct yourself according to the concept of free choice according to the degree at which you are. Previously, nothing was said to you about free choice. Now you are told that you have no other choice except the choice of environment. Live within this contradiction!

This is what is meant by “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” on the one hand, and “There is none else besides Him” on the other. If “There is none else besides Him,” then is there no free choice? But if “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” there is free choice, is there something that I do?

Use them both! The Kabbalists do not hide this from you. They are preparing you for the true free choice, which you do not yet know. It will come.

But do not be a philosopher. Do not say that now everything is already clear, that you know “There is none else besides Him,” and that is the end of it. Have you attained this? What does it mean that you know? You have not attained it; you have simply read about it. The Kabbalists are there, not you.

Therefore a person must conduct himself according to the state in which he finds himself. And if he does not make use of it, then he is not making use of his Kelim. About this it is written: “His wisdom is greater than his deeds,” and because of this he becomes a fool, for he takes some slogan that he heard somewhere, and steps outside reality. Such things do not come from wisdom.
[359869]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
What Is Free Choice?
Born Free
As Though Everything Depends on Me

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

Question: The Creator created the will to receive, and then withdrew from it. Is this an action of the Creator or of the Kli, the desire?

Answer: When we speak about actions in spirituality, it appears as though the Kli is performing them. But does the Kli actually do anything? Actions are never performed by the Kli. We say that the light comes, the screen repels it, and then decides how much to receive and how much not to.

Imagine a biologist studying the functioning of a  cell. He adds an acid or something else to it, and the cell begins to behave in a certain way. Or something happens with a computer, and we say: “Look what it suddenly did to me!” What does “suddenly did” mean? You simply do not know how the computer is supposed to behave. Maybe it has a virus or something else, and that is why it behaves this way. But what does it mean that it “behaves”? Does it have a choice?

If you knew the whole system, you would of course not doubt how it would behave; you would know it in advance! Why is a specialist needed? Because he knows the system, and the causes of its behavior. He does not know the “character” of the computer; he simply approaches it or some system and says that here there must be such and such an input, and such and such a reaction.

Any system is a black box, and I do not care what is happening inside. But I know the inputs and outputs. Or let us say that there is some malfunction. I input something, and nothing comes out, or something comes out that should not. Then it needs repair. This is called a disease or malfunction.

That is how it is in any body—biological, mechanical, or electrical, it does not matter which. If you know its internal system precisely, its inputs and outputs, there is no difficulty in understanding how it will behave.

For example, yesterday I had a blood test. It was checked against 30 parameters, and from them I could see what in my body is in order and what not. That is, based on the system’s outputs one can determine that it is malfunctioning. But does the system itself possess any free choice regarding its behavior? Does the body choose how to behave?! No!

Therefore when we speak about all the Partzufim, worlds, and even souls, which supposedly have freedom of choice, this is not freedom of behavior, because there is a system of light, Kli (vessel), and what happens between them, and there is no mystery to it. Everything is clear beforehand; the game is fixed in advance. The input parameters are set on a higher level. Their cause is the sensation of the Creator, and that too is something predetermined from above.

Therefore we are speaking only about the attitude toward what is happening. But it turns out that the attitude too must be governed by law. So where is there any place for choice at all? This is what we do not know, and this is called “above reason.” If we investigate our actions and everything that influences us, we will not find any degree of freedom. According to logic, it cannot exist. It simply cannot!

This degree of freedom acts only in the spiritual realm. When the will to receive, situated in a particular set of circumstances, decides it wants to rise above itself, that specific intention can truly be free! Not in relation to the Creator, but in relation to the creation itself.

This is called “above reason,” and exists only in the spiritual. In our world, there is nothing of the kind. In our world, whether you will laugh in a minute or cry is the result of what is done to you. Whether you will run toward the goal or not is also set up for you. We are only in the stage of preparation for free choice.

We are gradually being taught how this is even possible in reality. But now, before the Machsom, we are all like animals. And beyond the Machsom, to the extent that the soul can create an intention for actions “above reason,” it is called “Israel.” This is already the measure of a human being, not an animal, and it is called “above reason.” This is creation.
[359865]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Creature’s Free Choice
A System With One Degree Of Freedom
The Focal Point Of Freedom

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

There is only one path open to us leading to the Creator. If you wish, you may advance toward Him; if not,   you do not have to. The pace of your advancement depends on you, but only if you choose the single path, out of all 360 directions, that leads straight to Him.

But if you decide to go in one of the other 359 directions, paths that seem to be an alternative, then you are not free to choose. In that case, you will be tossed from side to side, through various directions and all kinds of states, so that by becoming confused, doing various things, and struggling your way out of them, you will once again come to this point of choice.

If you do not wish to make that choice, then continue revolving in the closed circle. You are given the opportunity to break out of it: if you wish, you can exit in the designated direction; if not wish, then, like the hand of a clock, you will complete another rotation until you return to the same starting point.

Later, on higher degrees, but not now, it becomes evident that free choice truly exists and consists only in choosing this one direction.

The whole of reality was created solely for the sake of this point of choice. Otherwise, if nothing depended on a person, then why would it be necessary to lead him through countless different states until the final correction.
[359435]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
Choosing the Single Path Among a Thousand Roads
The Way To The Goal
Close To The Point Of Choice

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

The choice of environment is in a person’s hands. He can place himself under the influence of the group, try to influence it himself so that this influence returns to him many times stronger, or simply elevate the group.

If he has chosen a teacher, then all that remains is to elevate the teacher as much as possible in his own eyes. The only work he can do with respect to the teacher is to place himself under the teacher’s influence as much as possible.

The lower he places himself, the higher the teacher will be in his eyes. With respect to the friends, however, there are several possibilities. He can try to change them, he can try to change himself, or he can try to change his relationship with the group.

But once the group has been chosen, a person will be under the influence of the environment that he himself has chosen. The only thing he can influence is his connection with the group.
[359370]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
If You Want to Achieve the Goal
Follow the Teacher
How Is The Environment Selected?

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

Question: It is said: “I created the evil inclination and created the Torah as a spice for it.” The evil inclination is creation. What then does “created the Torah” mean?

Answer: You are asking: “We learn that the Creator created the evil inclination and also created the Torah; in that case, what does the creation of the Torah mean?

On the other hand, it is written that the Creator produced the light and created the darkness. Creation (Beria) means separation (“Bar“) from a level referring to darkness. If the Creator created darkness, then why is the same word used regarding the Torah—”created the Torah as a spice”?

The expression “created the Torah as a spice” implies the Torah, not in its direct meaning, but as a spice, for this is the correction contained within the desire to receive. There is light, and there is an action performed by the light inside the desire to receive. The meaning is that the light acts inside this desire, changing the desire to receive into the intention for the sake of bestowal. Then the result of the action of receiving for the sake of bestowal is such that the action itself becomes similar to the light.

Thus, the discussion is not simply about the Torah, but about its action inside the desire to receive. Therefore, the Torah is also called created, for this is something new.

Why new? Given that the light itself is pleasure, it created the desire to receive pleasure. But since the light is also a desire to bestow, it awakens a sensation of shame inside the desire to receive.

First the Creator treats me to delicacies, and subsequently, entirely unconnected to the first, shows that it is precisely He who prepared everything for me and did so for my own good. He stirs within me feelings of shame, awkwardness, and reactions of this kind. This in itself constitures creation.

I have stated many times that shame itself is a creation and the result of the action of the light. This is what is called “created the Torah as a spice,” since with its help the desire to receive undergoes correction, which is what is called “spice.”
[359235]
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:
“Come And See” Your New Self
That Is Why You Will Be Called a Human Being
Spice Up Your Desire

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

The state from which we begin the spiritual work is the attainment of the correct desire. The Midrash tells us that when the Creator turned to each of the desires, none of them agreed to receive the force of correction except for one special desire. This desire felt that it was opposite to the Creator and sought not equality with Him, but only the feeling of His presence. After the shattering of the Kelim, this desire came to be called “Israel.”

Why did the nations of the world not agree? The nations of the world are those desires that do not feel the presence of the Creator in relation to themselves, a presence that could lead them to aspiration and the correct intention.

From this we see that there is also an immense work of processing and refining the desires in order to bring them to the correct, genuine desires, which are called Klipot, that is, desires directed toward holiness, precisely aimed at spiritual concepts. When a person comes to such desires, he comes into contact with the quality of Israel, not yet in its corrected form, but in the form of its Achoraim (posterior side). Nevertheless, he already belongs to the quality called Israel.

Israel is one who feels himself to be uncorrected, opposite to the Creator, and from that state begins to understand that equivalence of form with the Creator must become his goal.

One who does not feel himself to be uncorrected and in need of correction is called a gentile (Goy). He has no need for the Torah, that is, for the light of correction that returns one to the source. He says, “Why do we need it?” And thus it remains until the part of creation called Israel corrects itself and receives the Torah, thereby becoming “a light for the nations.”

From Israel, the correct Hisaron (deficiency) spreads to all the other desires, because the mutual inclusion of all desires within one another is then revealed. As a result, these desires, called the nations of the world (Goyim), begin to desire that through which they can come to correction—the Torah.
[359758]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Essence of the Desires “Israel”
The Spiritual Division Of Labor
It Is Impossible To Refuse To Be The Chosen People

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

By being in exile they [the children of Israel] will feel the need to be only in a state of bestowal, by which they will be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator. Thus, the suffering of exile will reform them (Rabash, Article 27, 1986 “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”).

We were created with vessels of reception, which are opposite to the Creator. Since the Creator wishes to bring us closer to Him according to the law of equivalence of form, He is revealed only to the extent that we become similar to Him. Therefore a person is called “Adam,” from the word “Edomeh,” “I shall be similar to the Creator.”

As long as a person’s desires have not yet been corrected because he has not attained the state of equivalence of form, the similarity of his qualities to the qualities of the Creator, those desires remain opposite to the Creator. Yet even one who still possesses qualities opposite to the Creator, but at the same time strives for adhesion with Him, is already called “Israel” (“Yashar-El,” straight to the Creator).

However, true “Israel” is the degree of equivalence of form. To the one who attains it, the Creator is revealed accordingly, and this signifies that they have both come out of exile together.

Just as a person comes out of exile, that is, out of his uncorrected Kelim, so too the Creator comes out of exile by revealing Himself to that person to the same extent. But insofar as a person remains in exile in certain desires, or even partially within some of them, to that same extent the Creator remains concealed from him.

The degrees of the Creator’s concealment or revelation with respect to us are called the worlds (Olamot, from the word “Alama,” concealment.) The Creator is revealed only in accordance with one’s corrected desires. This determines where on the spiritual ladder a person stands in relation to the Creator.

Altogether a person possesses 620 desires. In other words, there are 620 acts of correction that separate him from the Creator, 620 corrections that he must perform in order to correct his desires, fill them, and thereby attain adhesion with the Creator. Accordingly, a person comes out of exile and—by having acquired the desire to attain the land of Israel (Eretz Israel), as it is written—enters it, and dwells there, that is, in the place where the Creator always dwells.

In the land of Israel live the people called “Yehudim” (Jews), who are in unity (Yichud) with the Creator, a people whose desires are directed solely toward the Creator. Outside that land dwell the “nations of the world” whose desires are scattered and dispersed among every kind of craving and passion for various pleasures.

In other words, a person’s 620 desires that are directed toward himself are called the “nations of the world.” To the extent that he corrects them into desires to bestow upon the Creator, each one of them is transformed from a gentile (Goy) into a Yehudi, that is, it becomes a Ger (a convert to Judaism). In this way, each corrected desire rises to the degree of the Creator.
[359333]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
When The Quality Of Israel Manifests
The Property “Israel”
How Can We Get To Know The Creator?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

In the book Pri Haham, Rabash calls the property of pride the force of destruction. What can I do? On one hand, I must preserve this force; on the other hand, I cannot turn to the Creator until this force is under my full control, because only after overcoming it can I ask Him for something.

I have to suppress myself, reach a state of lowering my “I” and exalting the Creator, but I am unable to do so. Therefore, the stony heart cannot be corrected until the final correction (Gmar Tikun).

You can correct this with the additional force you receive from the group. In this case, the force of the group is something special, as if it is outside the relationship between man and the Creator.

This is an additional force that I can use as an external help. It belongs neither to “existence from absence” nor to “existence from existence,” neither to man nor the Creator, but as if to something third that exists in nature.

Since pride puts me, like Pharaoh, against the Creator, there is nothing to be done about it. It is only from the outside that I can receive additional force, which will give me the opportunity to suppress my “I” and turn to the Creator. Otherwise, Pharaoh will shout, “Who is the Creator that I should listen to Him?” No matter how many plagues are thrown at me, nothing will help.

Therefore, Rabash emphasizes that only the force of the group can help us. Baal HaSulam writes that our happy future depends on it. Without the help of the group, I stand like a wall against the Creator, unable to do anything. The Creator does not want to be the first to reveal Himself to me, because by doing so, He would suppress my “I,” and I would simply annul before Him.

Can I ask the Creator to reveal Himself to me so that my “I” is suppressed through my own efforts, and His actions are a response to my actions? This can only be achieved by getting outside help.
[359321]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?”

Related Material:
Rising Above Pride
The Force That Separates Us from the Creator
Pray And Ask!

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

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 →