Question: How can one feel the desire to receive as evil?

Answer: Suppose I stole something and was caught. At that moment, I scold myself: “Why am I stealing? I must put an end to this, because I feel suffering from having such qualities.”

This also applies to our work. It is said that Adam HaRishon was a thief. Any reception without the intention to bestow is called theft.

If I were to see this as evil, I would rid myself of it. It is said: “The advantage of the light is revealed from within the darkness.” If I knew that through acts of bestowal I would reach good, then I would see that the act of reception brings me to evil.

How can I see this? Either through suffering when I perform actions within the desire to receive and receive blows. Then I simply do not want to have this desire; I want to restrict it.

“Less wisdom, less suffering. Do not demand much, and it will be better for you. Why chase after something? Sit quietly, and everything will be fine.” This is how the whole world understands it.

This path is called the path of suffering. But nevertheless, we are not able to live and advance by this path, because our desire to receive is constantly developing and burning. And although we do not control it, it nevertheless demands its due, and then, whether we want it or not, we make use of it. However, we suffer even from the fact that we want to use it, but we do not receive what we desire. This is called the path of suffering in its various forms.

And there is the path of Torah, when through study and various actions, I begin to reveal that in spirituality, in the intention for the sake of bestowal, there is a great attraction, very significant things: eternity, perfection, and attainment, which does not exist at all within the desire to receive.

Then I see that the desire to receive is evil, not because I receive suffering within it, not because I get caught when I steal, not because I desire but do not receive fulfillment, but because it does not allow me to reach the good things that exist in spirituality. Thus, I begin to compare the desire to receive with spirituality, and therefore, I simply want to remove this desire from our world, remove it from myself.

This is called the path of Torah; it is when I begin to see the desire to receive as evil and wish to move to bestowal by means of the upper light which illuminates me just a little. In this, the desire to receive does not interfere with me. The greater it is, the better. I do not destroy it, I do not go against its development, since this will not help me anyway. On the contrary, I take it in its entirety and begin to demand from the light that it return it to good.

Therefore, the path of development when the light that returns to the source operates is natural. It goes together with the development of the desire to receive and with the development of humanity. This is the only path that can give a person an answer to all questions.

A person asks: “Why do I suffer?” Then do not suffer, use the desire to receive that is developing within you, but use it correctly. Therefore, the use of the desire to receive with the intention to bestow is the perfect answer to all questions. You do not need to restrict yourself or artificially flee from pleasures. On the contrary, you begin to use the desire to receive with full force.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/26, Rabash, Article 12, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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Only light and Kli that exist in the universe. Just as light has different kinds of manifestation before Kli, so does the Kli have different ways of feeling itself. It feels itself in this world as  either inanimate, vegetative, or animate where it is not aware of itself at all, does not know what it is, and acts solely in accordance with its desire to receive.

These are the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels where creation does not see itself from the outside, and cannot study itself. Then follows the degree of “speaking,” “human,” when the creation can relate to its desire to receive and to all its qualities from the outside. However, this is also very subjective.

Even if it perceives itself incorrectly, cannot understand what is inside the desire to receive, and does not see that all this is predetermined in advance, nevertheless it tries to know itself as some kind of independent point, as a neutral objective researcher who studies himself from the outside.

When can the creation, the Kli, truly judge itself completely freely? When it receives the opportunity to look at itself from the Creator’s perspective. To the extent that the Kli acquires the desire to bestow, it can relate to the desire to receive in the same way the Creator relates to it. And there are no more than these two points: either to relate as creation or as the Creator.

If a person acquires the Kelim of bestowal, then he can see that there are two worlds, that is, two kinds of awareness, sensations, that exist on two planes. And before he receives the Kelim of bestowal, he does not understand at all that there is some other angle of vision, completely different from his own.
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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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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.
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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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