Question: What is the difference between the states “goes” and “does”?

Answer: “Goes” means that a person has some urge to advance, when he thinks that in the next state, he will be closer to the Creator, closer to the possibility of bestowing. This means that he has an intention to come to bestowal in some form.

Here there are two states: the present one and the next one, and he is already moving between them, passing from one to the other. Therefore, he is called “one who goes.”

And another sits and appears to be he doing something. This means that he was given the opportunity to come here and sit with us. And still this is also called an “action.”

He has no aspiration to come to something. “Bestowal, adhesion, Creator”; these words can be pronounced just like that, but they do not come from the person’s inner feeling.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/26, Rabash, “What Are the Four Qualities of Those Who Go to the Seminary, in the Work?”

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Question: You try to give tasks to everyone, both men and women. Is it really possible to do without women’s desire?

Answer: No, it must be very clear. A woman is not a passive element in creation. Although compared to a man, she is more passive, this is only because she cannot independently implement her desire.

However, her desire itself is very necessary for men. And men will feel like men when women begin to feel a need for spiritual development and pressure them with this need. Then it will be like in a family when a wife compels her husband to take care of the family.

Question: How can we ensure that women do not go in the wrong direction?

Answer: In any case, one has to develop somewhere. I am not afraid of anything. And in general, what is there for us to fear? Life is infinite, nature is eternal, the Creator is one, and one force governs us. We are obligated to move only toward it, toward contact with it, and toward similarity with it.

Let us try to pass through all these stages quickly, easily, and pleasantly, as much as possible. The main thing is to constantly try to accelerate the pace of movement toward the goal. That is all.

When I am asked what I like about myself and what I do not, I say: “There is only one thing I like about myself: the striving toward the goal that the Creator gave me.” I must constantly feel pressure: I must, must, must, and feel that I am moving toward the goal, revealing it more and more correctly. I torment myself if I do not carry this through to the end.

Only this desire matters. Everything else is the evil that was also created by the Creator, but there is certainly nothing good in it.

Therefore, we should not pay attention to the various shortcomings that are revealed within us. They will naturally appear, and at the pace at which we move forward, we will feel them even more.

But a strong, good, kind, mature women’s organization, which I demand, will help us go through all the revelations of our internal shortcomings that we do not yet see. And by revealing and correcting them, we will come to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Women’s Desire” 9/11/10

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Question: How can a spiritual directorate replace you, a Kabbalist, who gives people a sensation of the upper world?

Answer: The spiritual directorate deals with clarifying current issues related to advertising, dissemination, studies, and the functioning of our organization, that is, the framework we exist within. It does not deal with the spiritual fulfillment that I give to the students, nor with the knowledge that I reveal to them every day.

The spiritual directorate cannot replace me as a professional, as a teacher. However, it can, and already does, replace me in all decisions concerning the development of the organization and the group so that there are no arbitrary corporeal decisions or deviations.

These are ordinary people, students who are more or less capable of looking objectively at themselves and the group, and of making decisions, not with clouded eyes, but by rising above themselves toward a collective decision.

They understand that whatever the decision may be, if it is collective, it is higher than even the smartest and most brilliant individual decision, because within it the Creator is present. He is the one who truly governs the world and the group. In an individual, egoistic, even if brilliant decision, the Creator is absent, and therefore it is doomed to fail.

Ordinary people do not yet understand this, especially now, when a global system is beginning to reveal itself in the world and the structure of reality is gradually becoming clear: first through human society, then through ecology, and later through the entire vast universe.

The universe is beginning to appear as a single, complete system of inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature. However, we do not know what to do with it because we have no tools to work with such a system. In fact, this system is the most important because it alone governs everything.

In other words, the world is governed by the collective as a whole system. Have you noticed how a school of fish turns in water, all at once, not one leading and the others following, but all together, a whole mass, sometimes hundreds of thousands moving as one? Birds behave the same way.

This example shows the upper governance, not when one makes a decision and others follow, but when the wholeness of the group itself governs. Therefore, I exist not to lead you forward, but so that you form such wholeness. And then, among you, the Creator will be revealed, and He will lead you forward.

Moses was great in that he led the people, yet the Creator went before him, as a pillar of fire at night and as a cloud pillar by day.

A teacher is needed to gather everyone into a collective so that within the group, or even within all humanity, the force called “the Creator” will be revealed, the force that holds everything together, the general force of nature.

It is called the force of bestowal and love because only through this quality can people unite. And when it is revealed, everyone will turn in the same direction simultaneously, feeling themselves as one single body. Then all will understand how reality is structured, and to the extent that they are able to unite, the force of the Creator will be revealed.

Therefore, if the spiritual directorate resolves issues collectively, it will certainly succeed, whereas a single “clever individual” never will.

Question: How can we unite so that the upper force will dwell within us?

Answer: Prefer the collective opinion over your own. This opinion is gradually formed by the friends through discussion, by comparing their goals, plans, capabilities, and analyses with what is written in the sources, and for this, it is enough to know a few of the simplest principles.

Any group can do this if it is capable. Unfortunately, there are many “clever” individuals who understand the material very well, but cannot yet get to a collective approach. Therefore, they are not part of the spiritual directorate.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Meaning of Spiritual Direction” 9/11/10

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Question: You say that we cannot reach even 1% of the world. But everyone wants to instill unity into our dissemination, and in the end, it turns out that we are not succeeding. Then what is the point of disseminating if you initially know that all of this is empty?

Answer: It is with your emptiness that you fill the world.

Question: But mustn’t there be some kind of solution?

Answer: The solution will appear when you become filled with the Creator. Then there will be a different kind of dissemination. The world will begin to feel that one unified force that resides in you. And the world will begin to go crazy, but in a good sense, because people will suddenly develop a new sensation, and everyone, all across different continents and in various countries, will start talking in different languages about the fact that there is one single governance, one single thought, one single force.

Here and there, all kinds of aspirations, disputes, expressions, opinions, and articles will suddenly begin to appear, and people will begin to perceive this and take it into account.

From within humanity, a new common opinion will emerge—the need to communicate in this way and feel others. People will begin to subconsciously understand that through unification, they can achieve something very special.

They will understand that, being united, they need to dig within, and they will find happiness there, a new idea, some kind of way out of the situation. “Instead of engaging in politics, undermining each other, trying to deceive, let us, on the contrary, try to connect, and there, within our unity, we will find a solution to all problems.” That is what everything will be moving toward.

Question: Is this similar to the feeling when a person with a point in the heart encounters Kabbalah for the first time?

Answer: Yes, it will manifest in people, but not in aspiration for Kabbalah; rather, it will be toward this idea, that the idea of unity must produce a new solution from itself, one that is completely irrational, that we cannot determine, attain, or derive with our minds in some equation.

Only if we strive toward one another, and within this common striving—there, where each can break free from his egoism and create some kind of common desire, a common field, something higher, above our reason—we will suddenly perceive a new mind, a new solution, completely different, not from our level.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. What’s inside?” 10/10/10

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What does it mean to follow Moses, after all, he is on a spiritual level, and the people are on the material level? What condition must be fulfilled for this?

First of all, you must make a restriction (Tzimtzum) on your own Kelim. As a consequence of this, you connect with everyone else, specifically with the several million others just like you who exist on your level. Only after you have given up your egoism can connect with Moses. Before that, you were not able to do that.

The exodus from Egypt occurs when you join Moses, not at his high level, but only at the level of self-annulment. This is called the state of spiritual birth; it is when it is enough for you simply to follow him with your eyes closed.

Moses walks in front of everyone with his eyes open, leaning on his staff. He knows where to go and how to lead the people. And he is not the only one; there are also others accompanying him on the way like Nahshon, who was the first to jump into the sea, and others.

But your annulments toward Moses should be like you are a baby relative to an adult, that is enough. A small child does not know where his father is leading him. It is enough for him to grasp his father’s hand and he will be certain that he will surely lead him to a good place.

In order to reach the level of Moses, it is necessary to cross the Machsom, enter the Land of Israel, and go through many more stages. Moses is on a very high spiritual degree; he is the greatest among the prophets.

But when he was with all the people in Egypt, he himself was already no longer on the degree of “Egypt” but on the degree of the “Land of Israel.” That is why he does not enter the Land of Israel together with all the people. He is already beyond this degree, above it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/26, Rabash, “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

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Question: To progress from a good state to an even better one, you need to be conscious of your current state. How can you do this without descending to a lower level?

Answer: To descend to a lower level means following bodily desires. At some point, each of us feels the urge to run away and hide in some quiet, warm, peaceful corner. When I am in trouble, I think, “I want nothing, not even something good. I want to utterly limit my desires just not to feel anything.”

As soon as there is an opportunity to get something and feel good, a desire instantly arises to get more and more, to the point that a person wants to consume the whole world. Whereas in a difficult moment, all desires disappear except one: Give me some quiet corner, just so I can be at peace.

It all depends on the external conditions a person finds oneself in. We should not think about our desires, because at the right moment, you will feel the right desire. We should only think about how to make the external conditions awaken us more.

Everything that a person feels in every state, at any stage, from the lowest to the highest, is a sensation of the Creator. There is nothing else to feel except Him. The sensation of the Creator in our current state is called our world. Because our senses, our Kelim, are opposite to Him, we feel this world is so bad. But to the extent we succeed in reaching similarity of properties with the Creator, our sensations will become better.

We should not talk about the size of our Kelim. We should be concerned about their nature.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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Question: It turns out that it is possible for a person to expend effort without any gaining any benefit. But then, how do I check that my efforts are directed correctly?

Answer: In other words, you are ready to make efforts, understanding that it is impossible to achieve anything without them, and you want to verify that your efforts are headed in the right direction.

Efforts must be directed toward building a spiritual desire, a vessel, for the revelation of light. Light has the quality of bestowal; therefore, I also need to work on my egoism in order to overcome it and bring myself to the action of bestowal, to the quality of bestowal, to somehow get closer to it.

When I try to approach bestowal, I reveal resistance both from myself and from others. I see that I forget about it, I do not really strive for it, it is not my natural, innate desire.

Then my efforts take on a specific character so that I do not forget about the spiritual goal and constantly, within the right environment, imagine it before me. I try to influence my friends externally; I resort to all kinds of tricks in order to remain within the common desire, to feel it, to inspire others from the outside and from the inside with my thought, with my desire.

And if I make such efforts and see that I have no strength and nothing helps, then I involuntarily begin to think about the Creator. Just like that, on its own, this does not occur to me. But if I have made enough efforts, then in the end, I will remember that I need help from above. I am ready to ask: let Him help me and come with me!

This is called: “Come unto Pharaoh!” I agree that He should join me or I should join Him. And then we go together to shatter my ego, the ego that prevents me from connecting with others.

This is how a person begins to work, and inside the work, one already reveals what needs to be done next. But the correctness of efforts is always verified by whether they are directed inside the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/11, Baal HaSulam, Letter 56, 1931

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A person is born and exists in this world in order to attain independence from his nature, to break away from the inanimate level, from the desire to enjoy, and to build a form opposite to it.

This is what it means to become independent of the previous degree. The next degree does not exist in a ready‑made form that one can see and study to take an example from. There is no one for us to imitate. We can only strive for opposite qualities, and in this way we will build the next degree.

Each time desires and thoughts change and grow, and a person can work in order to build himself as independent of them. He develops more and more on the animate degree. This is no longer the simple animal he was born as. More and more egoism, the evil inclination, is revealed in him. But the evil was created so that above it we would build the opposite, spiritual degree, the good inclination, the human.

The human degree is characterized by the fact that it demands connection with others, in contrast to the animate degree where everyone feels himself ever more separate and distant from others. And at the same time, on the animate level it seems to him that by distancing himself from everyone he attains independence.

But in order to build myself on the human degree, I must annul myself and connect with everyone. And the question arises: where then is independence here? On the contrary, I neglect myself for the sake of others. This is the complete opposite.

We must realize how insignificant the animate independence to which we strive by the orders of nature is. And independence on the human degree is the striving to carry out the instructions of the higher force. We build our likeness to the higher to the extent that we can rise above our animate nature.

It is said: “Man and beast You save, O Creator.” Both these degrees rise, support one another, and together build independence from nature, from the desire to enjoy. In this way we attain the goal of creation, for the sake of which the Creator creates everything with an egoistic desire—so that above it we will build the human degree, Adam, similar to the Creator, in adhesion, in mutual support, in connection between all desires.

Everything that Baal HaSulam said about the people of Israel almost a hundred years ago is relevant even today. We really are like “nuts in a sack” because we hold together by compulsion, under the influence of external negative forces. No one knows the great mission of this people, which still has to be revealed. And therefore we envy all the other peoples who have the right to exist on their own land, which no one disputes.

But the Jews are such a special people to whom no other people in the world relates positively. This is a special phenomenon. And the people of Israel themselves, within themselves, are not able to unite naturally; they feel inner disunity.

And even non‑Jews in whom the point in the heart has awakened, the aspiration to connect with the higher force, which brings them to the study of Kabbalah, also reveal how different and far from each other they are. They have no desire to come closer to others.

It does not matter to which people they belong in the material world, but as soon as they unite in a group engaged in spiritual advancement, they immediately become similar to the people of Israel: just as disunited. Each group is like a sack of nuts, which grind against one another, and do not want to unite.

This is a manifestation of the same nature, both in the people of Israel and in Kabbalistic groups all over the world who wish to draw closer to the Creator. From this it is clear that the Jews are not a people, but also, in the past, a group of Kabbalists. Once they were on a spiritual degree, and were able to overcome separation and unite. Later they fell from this height, and now exist in an opposite form.

We must study our spiritual state from its opposite, which exists today. For the further we develop and try to be together, the worse we succeed at it. But we must rejoice that the evil is being revealed, our true nature. This nature is not an ordinary one; it is much worse than that of all other peoples because it comes from the breaking.

All the others have an ordinary, animate nature that strives for material well‑being for their body. But the people of Israel, by their attempts to unite and by studying Kabbalah, consciously or unconsciously awaken the upper light that returns to the source, and in this way they reveal the breaking, the absence of unity, of spirituality. And therefore anti‑spiritual qualities that are opposite to the Creator are revealed in us.

We must clarify and understand them, and relate to them with great respect because it is precisely above these consequences of the breaking, of corruption, of separation from the spiritual and from unity that we must build the corrected state. All these states that are opposite to unity and correction, as well as those that support unity, belong to the human degree. Therefore we must value them and work on them.

Correction relates only to the human degree. It demands our unity and closeness in opinions and sensations. Although no one gives up his opinion and feelings, the connection takes place above them, into “one man with one heart,” as in the first man, Adam HaRishon. The last, finally corrected man will be the same. The revelation of the past breaking points to the future correction.

Therefore today we are a special group, a new people, the people of the Creator, who are trying to revive themselves from the dust.

There are nations—that is, such desires to enjoy—that are united on the animate degree. They feel closeness and understanding according to their material qualities, and therefore they feel good together. Each one feels that it is worthwhile for him to belong to this group, to his people.

There are 70 such nations of the world, groups, each of which is characterized by its own spirit, degree of unity, level of existence, character, and physical genes. People naturally feel their belonging to one of the groups. Even if hatred arises between them, it is purely material, and does not relate to the spiritual.

But at the same time a group can exist on a higher degree, thanks to unification by a special goal. This goal is not natural, it is above material nature: to unite above one’s egoism. Here two opposites combine.

On the one hand, there is a negative connection between them because no one feels himself obliged to this group or bound to it. But on the other hand, they are united by a goal that is set artificially.

The common goal creates a common space for them because only by uniting together can they attain this exalted, lofty goal. And then they will be called a special people, not according to material DNA, but according to the spiritual genes (Reshimot) awakening in them.

Such a group, by attaining a new type of unity in contrast to the natural, material separation, is called the people of Israel (Yisra‑El) because it wants to become similar to the Creator (Yashar‑Kel), the higher force. It already possesses a new nature, a new essence.

From generation to generation it attempts to attain the higher force, and for this to create a method, to establish traditions in accordance with the higher force—holidays, special days, physical commandments in accordance with its spiritual attainment.

That is, a unity is formed according to spiritual laws. In history there appears a group of people who establish laws and traditions for themselves in accordance with the higher source.

Every people has its own traditions, but the traditions of the people of Israel correspond to spiritual degrees that were either attained in the past or designated for the future as “a sign for the sons.” These traditions remind a person of the spiritual degrees that he has yet to attain.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 5/9/19, “Independence Day”

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The ladder of spiritual attainment is within us, whereas my present degree exists externally. In addition, inside me are layers, much like those of an onion that represent increasingly inner states. Each such sphere constitutes a world, a new state, and a higher degree.

Starting from the outermost sphere (which is currently revealed to me and constitutes my present state), all the spheres are nested one within another, ever deeper and deeper, up to the innermost central point, the state of my final correction.

Therefore the Torah recounts the story of the ladder that appeared to Jacob in a dream that depicted its specific form. It is described precisely as a ladder, not as some spheres or other form, although it could have been described that way too. The sages chose to represent this specific state because it corresponds to the relationship between the branch and the root.

Jacob lies on the ground, falls asleep, disconnects from his current reality, and then he sees, the entire ladder rising to the very heavens beginning from the lowest rung. Who is Jacob? He is Abraham, who acquired the Aviut of Isaac and now is able to work with it in the middle line.

This simple picture can be given to everyone; it explains that the only way to transcend one’s present state it to rise to a higher degree. The higher you rise, the better it will be for you. This applies both to us personally and to the entire nation. By what means can this be done? This is what Baal HaSulam explains at the end of the “Preface to The Book of Zohar.” The means is one and the same for the individual, for the entire people, and for the whole world.

And we should not be resent that the Creator placed us in such harsh conditions. Terrible reports are broadcast on television, but has this stirred anyone from their place? No.

One can say, of course, that these unfortunate people simply do not know that there is such a solution to the problem, that no one has explained it to them. First of all we must accept that these Kelim, these states, come to us from above, that they are sent to us by the Creator. And then, in light of this knowledge, a person gradually begins to reveal a possible way out and to understand that, apparently, since the cause lies with Him, then the solution must also be in Him.

In the days of King David there were wars. At that time, they battled hand‑to‑hand, with spears, swords, and bows and arrows, and up to 100,000 people could die in a single day! War is war. Everything depends on how one looks at it.

Of course, for us in this world every killing is a tragedy. But we must understand that above they do not take bodies into account the way we do. From above, the reckoning centers on the intensity of the inner experience one undergoes through that body. If we lose 40 people in a week and this does not shifte our consciousness, then it is as if we have not lost anyone at all.

For what is measured is the degree of your grief, how it awakens you, what the results are; and if it has not awakened you, then it is as though you have lost nothing, as though you have felt nothing. The real system of evaluation is very strict.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection Between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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What is the difference between wanting to receive something good right now in the state I am in and believing it would be better for me if I were to rise to a higher state, to a higher degree? How does the awareness of this difference arise in me at all?

The most essential difference is whether I understand that only by drawing closer to the Creator will I feel good. It is precisely this that we must acquire now.

A person needs to picture a spiritual ladder that raises him from this world to the final correction and to understand that all the rungs are in a constant, stable state. Each rung has its own conditions.

The conditions in which a person is now are bad only because such is the nature of this rung. And accordingly, nothing good can be for him now. Rising to the next rung means being saved from the bad that exists on the previous one.

Then he will already be thinking about how to rise from rung to rung, how to draw the surrounding light, and for this he needs to study and believe that it will help him, and at the same time, seek the support of the group.

Therefore we must diligently study the method of Kabbalah. Without it we might be tempted to define the spiritual ladder merely as a series of inner states within a person rather some structure that rests on this earth and reaches heaven. We must conclude that it consists entirely of my own inner states.

But if I think like this, I can lose all the necessary vital prerequisites: the necessity of drawing the surrounding light, the indispensable need for a group, and the imperative to strive upward in order to draw closer to the Creator. I would no longer have a sharp, clear understanding; instead everything would become vague and indistinct.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/26, Rabash, “The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror”

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