Writings of Rabash, “What Does It Mean the World Was Created for the Torah”: By carrying out each of the 613 recommendations, a person acquires the Light corresponding to the recommendation inside his altruistic desire.

This Light, corresponding to the spiritual observance of each commandment, is called a “contribution” because it corresponds to the assimilation of each spiritual level. All 613 recommendations of all 613 degrees are called Torah.

The Creator created the will to enjoy, but He wishes for this desire to enjoy bestowal rather than reception. Therefore, the desire has to make changes, and it has to do so independently, by the principle “We shall do and we shall hear.”

Where is this desire? It lies in the human species, on the human level of development. As Baal HaSulam writes, after making all the verifications, we find just one advantage of man over animal: a desire to work for the Creator, for unity with Him. One who has this desire is called “human,” Adam. However, if this aspiration or this ascent is not yet present in him, then he is called an “animal.”

Yet it says in the Psalms, “You will save a man and an animal.” Everyone is gradually approaching the awakening toward unifying with the Creator. And once they awaken, they start making actions by the principle, “We shall do and we shall hear.”

“We shall do” means the correction of the Kelim where we carry out the 613 recommendations. “We shall hear” means the fulfillment of the Kelim by means of the 613 orders, or stated differently, contributions, where a contribution, a deposit, or Light enters the corrected Kelim.

By way of correction and fulfillment, with the help of the Lights and contributions, we reach the realization: All our 613 desires become corrected from reception to bestowal and are filled by the upper Light or the Creator. In the end we become fulfilled inside Him; we reach adhesion with Him where He fulfills us.

Therefore, the Torah, meaning the method of correction, was created only for those who want to correct their egoistic desire by the intention of bestowal. Only they really engage in Torah. That’s because Torah is the Light that Reforms. A person who does not exist for the sake of this is not called “human,” one who performs correction.

Looking at our world through the spiritual glasses, we might possibly see several people here. Everything else belongs to the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, including the multitude of animals in the guise of people who have just an external similarity.

If a person hasn’t awakened yet in order to correct himself and attain the height of the Creator, that means he is still on the animate level of development. And no matter what he does, the method of correction was not created for him. He can be very sophisticated and intelligent, and he can consider himself a righteous man, but if he does not care about correcting his evil inclination at every second, then for now he is called an animal. That’s why it says that everyone are like animals.

Therefore, we have to respect the desire that has awakened inside us, which aspires to unity with the Creator, as well as the friends who also have this inner fire burning. We can unite with each other so that the common desire of everyone will enter each person. Then, in response to this desire that every person has, we will attract the Light that Reforms and it really will unite all our desires into one whole Kli that is already corrected. It will be filled by the upper Light, the Creator, and that is how we will become similar to Malchut of the world of Infinity, as it is written, “He is one and the Creator is one.” He is the Light, and the Creator is the vessel, Kli, HaVaYaH.

It turns out that the whole world was created for correction. In the end we will have to correct ourselves and reach unity, which is described by the verse, “All will know Me from the smallest of them to the greatest of them.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Writings of Rabash

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When reading The Zohar we must always think about the connection between us, and based on this constant, powerful thought we should just slightly hear the text, as much as it is possible as an addition, a spice. The thought about unity has to be powerful and unceasing. Only to the extent we are able to do so should we add the text to it, meaning the thought about it and the sensation of it. It has to be done only on the condition that this foundation, the constant thought about unity, does not disappear or grow weaker.

We can easily be in the right intention if only we know that The Zohar, just as all of the Torah, speaks only about the types of connection between us. Therefore, everything we study and everything we now want to see as a result of our work – unification among us, types of our connection, its special characteristics, everything happening between us – this is what The Book of Zohar tells us about.

Therefore, we are talking about the same point – the point of unity between myself and others. This point contains all the possible kinds of connections between me and everyone. This is what the Torah talks about.

Therefore, if I direct myself correctly, then I understand that it is talking only about this: What kinds of connections exist among us? How can I connect? How can I attain this?

In that case we want to attain what we study, even though we do not know it. Out of the aspiration to attain it, to unite into an integral desire or Kli , and to discern all the kinds of connection that the Torah tells us about, the Light that Reforms comes and creates that connection, bringing it to light. Then we reveal it in actuality.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, The Zohar

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Writings of Rabash, “What Does It Mean the World Was Created for the Torah”: Torah and Israel are the same thing. At first the Torah is instructions on correcting evil, called 613 recommendations on correcting 613 parts of egoism. After the correction, the Torah is potions of the Creator’s Light, corresponding to each of the 613 corrected organs of the soul.

Question: How is it possible to simply explain what is Israel, Torah, and the Creator, and what their unity means?

Answer: We are in an unchangeable state, as it is written, “I did not change Myself.” This single state is called “Malchut of the world of Infinity.” The Creator wished to do good upon the creation, and thus He created it in the corresponding state of goodness. But in order to feel that goodness, creation has to go through various twists and turns that will raise its desire or appetite by bringing about despair, troubles, and worries, or stated differently, various sensations that are opposite to the sensation of the Good who Does Good. That’s because otherwise creation would not feel Him.

However, in order to make sure that the sensation of the Good who Does Good together with His oppositeness do not become a double blow for creation, the Creator arranged things so we would collect the unpleasant sensations drop by drop—gradually, in small potions. “Ouch!”—and that’s enough. Then “Ouch!” again, and that’s enough. That is how we advance along the path, discerning our desire and learning what is good and what is bad.

As a whole we have to be sensitive and perceptive to good and evil. The more sensitive a person is to the realization of evil, the higher his level and the deeper he penetrates into the matter of creation.

Therefore, the unchanging state that the Creator made already contains the desire to enjoy for the sake of bestowal, corrected by the right intention, as well as the Light that fills this desire and intention. There everyone is one without any differences. This state is called “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

Israel (ישראל) is a vessel, a Kli with the intention of bestowal to the Creator. In other words, it is “straight to the Creator,” Yashar – El (ישר-אל). “Torah” is the entire Light that corrects and fills it. And they are one because they have attained the sate where they are absolutely equal and are in adhesion.

Equality and unity of the Creator and creation is the only form in which they exist. And every creature gradually reveals this form once the desire to reveal it awakens in him.

By bringing to light the emptiness in our current state, in the events of this world, the Creator gradually brings us to the feeling of emptiness, futility, and purposelessness of our lives. And at the same time He awakens the beginning of the spiritual Kli inside us, the embryo of the realization of evil. My state isn’t despicable because it is nauseating to the taste, but because I lack adhesion with the Creator.

I come to realize this gradually. At first I don’t understand at all what exactly I need, like a child who does not know himself why he is crying. But gradually the details come through, become clearer, and surface in me, and then I already begin hearing something.

Then I come to the group and the teacher, and spend several years subjecting myself to the influence of the Light in various states, which I undergo together with the teacher, books, and group. As the process continues, I become slightly more perceptive to the realization of evil. The evil lies in the fact that I do not want to join the books, the teacher, and the group. When I begin to feel that this is exactly my evil, then I start moving in the right direction toward correction.

At the same time I understand that I have to unite with the friends, receive awakening from them, acquire their mind and feeling, and dissolve in them. I become included in them, in their desires and intentions that are aimed at the goal. And upon this inclusion I have to evoke the Light that Reforms, or in other words, study together with them and attract the Light. If this happens, then I accumulate the necessary quantity and quality of efforts and reach the correction of my Kelim.

Of course, this process consists of an entire series of actions. After all, I cannot tolerate great corrections or great leaps in one go. That is why there are many degrees that divide into more tiny degrees. They are the means by which I attain the state that is described by the verse, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one.” I already exist in this state, but it surfaces in me gradually.

We would not be able to tolerate it all at once because this unity is too opposite to us.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Can a Kabbalist abide by two ideologies simultaneously and be religious at the same time as being a Kabbalist?

Answer: No, he can’t. Kabbalah takes the upper hand over religious ideology. A Kabbalist can carry out all sorts or religious customs as a result of his upbringing, culture, and the traditions of his nation. And I think it’s good to do so. I do not look down on religion.

However, this should not replace Kabbalah because the most important thing for a person is to attain revelation of and adhesion with the Creator. Anything that interferes with this should be removed from this path. What interferes isn’t religion itself, but the false conception of it, thinking that it can replace the attainment of the Creator, that instead of spiritual revelation it’s enough to carry out some kind of material actions, to pray according to written words, and to think that this is sufficient.

This is completely not so. It is written that “Everyone must know the Creator from the smallest of them to the greatest of them.” We have to attain adhesion with Him. Everyone says they agree with this because that’s what is written and it is impossible to argue with it. It’s clear to everyone that we have to attain “the Creator’s work” and to bond to Him. It is also written that the main rule of the Torah is to love your neighbor as yourself. However, people everywhere only talk about this, but do not actually make it happen.

No one even knows what adhesion with the Creator means, how to come closer to Him, and how to become similar to Him. The problem is that religion has replaced the science of Kabbalah after the breaking of the Temple, when the nation of Israel fell from the spiritual level to the material level and all that remained for the people to do was to carry out just physical actions as a tradition in order to commemorate the previous spiritual actions.

Now we have to learn to ascend back to the spiritual level and add the attainment of the Creator to these national traditions. Religion seems to stop a person, telling him that it’s sufficient to make just the mechanical actions that are carried out by religious people.

However, many source texts say that it’s not enough to make just the material actions, that the Creator does not care how you slaughter an animal—in a kosher manner or not, and that the commandments were given in order to correct the creatures by them. This means that the action has to be supplemented with the right intention.

The intention is the most important thing, in fact, it is the person himself. What is important are his thoughts and desires, rather than the actions. A religious person usually does actions by habit, having been raised from childhood to make them without thinking. There is no correction in doing so.

That is why we want to supplement tradition, the customary way of life, or what is called religion, which we perceive as a nation’s culture or tradition, with “the Creator’s work,” meaning the inner work of a person whereby he corrects his desires in order to become similar to the Creator. Adam, man, means similar.

Every person, secular as well as religious, has to understand that Kabbalah can add something to his life. It adds the revelation of the Creator, the upper force that controls everything. And when you see it, understand it, and feel it, then you understand how to go forward without making mistakes, both in this world and in the “world to come,” the spiritual world that becomes revealed to you.

We do not attain the revelation of the Creator by religious actions, but by uniting with others. However, these actions do not become canceled. They are simply like a branch symbolizing the spiritual root, and a person can remain in that culture. This is a custom that does not interfere with one’s advancement, but neither does it help him. It simply reminds you that spiritual actions exist, and that is why it was preserved throughout the years of the exile.

The Creator does not care about your physical actions. He only cares about the intention you put into them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, “Introduction to the book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What Is A High Priest Who Takes A Virgin Wife in the Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Seventh Commandment,” Item 228 , Lesson 3, “The Eighth Commandment”
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 82, Lesson 48
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Lesson 4
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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “KiTissa,” Selected Excerpts
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The initial picture that appears before a beginner who reads The Book of Zohar is very disorderly. He gets confused, not understanding what kind of language it is using exactly—the language of Kabbalah, or talking through the Lights, Kelim, and Partzufim, or in the language of stories.

Often the same paragraph in The Zohar uses a mixture of languages. For example, on one hand it is talking about Adam, Eve, the snake and so on. On the other hand it is talking about Malchut and Zeir Anpin and how they unite, attaining ZAT or GAR of Bina. That’s because the same sin and its correction which is described in the Torah can be described in four languages—those of Tanach, Halachot, Hagadot (stories), and Kabbalah. However, a person does not connect all of this together yet.

Nevertheless, to the degree he advances, inside his more corrected Kli or desire, he will understand how to translate things from one language to another. He can then use the language of Tanach or Halachot to explain the things written in the language of Sefirot. The language of stories is deeper, and therefore it is more difficult to explain things in it.

He can go from one language to another, from one expression to another. That’s because in essence he expresses his inner sensations or how thoughts and desires which used to be opposite now unite inside of him.

This is the only thing we express. I don’t need a language, letters, or anything! I have feelings (sensations in the desire) and the mind. Previously they were driven by hatred, whereas now I transfer them to unity and love. We do not have anything more than that. All that we do is reveal the disunity and the breaking, and by correcting them we attain the implementation of love.

However, it is possible to talk about this using words of four languages, and besides, instead of explaining it with words, it’s also possible to just feel it inside. That is why a person who attains spirituality doesn’t care what language it is written in. He shifts between languages since for him this is all the same thing.

It’s the same as how an experienced musician looking at notes hears the melody that these notes play inside of him, or how a professional chef looks at a recipe and already experiences the taste of the dish.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, The Zohar

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Every day there is a completely different illumination, which comes by virtue of the influence of Zeir Anpin, consisting of 6 Sefirot, upon the 7th Sefira, Malchut. Over the course of these “6 days” Malchut becomes corrected and joins Zeir Anpin.

Once all 6 Lights—Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, and Yesod have influenced Malchut and corrected her, they unite together. This is called the 6th day, Friday. On this day an illumination comes that is made up of all the Lights that were received during the week. This is called Yesod (foundation), after which the Sabbath begins.

On the Sabbath all the previous Lights shine together with one great Light and there is nothing new on our part, from the “awakening from below.” That is why there is no work, discernments, or corrections made on the Sabbath. It is the result of the work done throughout the week, the result of all the preceding clarifications and corrections.

Then an ascent takes place by virtue of this additional illumination, which happens “on the 5th hour of the 6th day of the week,” meaning from the 5th Sefira of the 6th day, because the 6th day, Yesod, contains its own Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, and Hod. This time is the beginning of entering the 7th day, the Sabbath.

This Light brings additional clarification, understanding, and bestowal. This is the addition of the Sabbath called “an additional soul.” This is the reason why the Ari introduced a custom to wear two jackets on the Sabbath instead of one. It symbolizes the fact that a person needs a double screen against the new additional Light that he receives from Above.

This Light influences Kelim or desires and raises them because it is impossible to remain in the same place while receiving Light.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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One should not think about the correction of egoistic desires separately or compare them to the altruistic ones. It says at the end of the "Introduction to the Book of Zohar" that “the nations of the world” within us receive the correction from “Israel.” In other words, AHP receives its correction from Galgalta ve Eynaim.

Therefore, if we aspire to correct the connection between us, the rest will join it. The entire world will join us. We do not have to worry about this.

We only need support from the “nations.” We need a stream of those who can already become part of the category of “Israel,” whereas everyone else will be corrected through our work and then they too will receive an awakening. The power of correction will flow from us to them similar to the Light that comes from Galgalta ve Eynaim and then corrects and fills AHP.

It says in the Torah, “This is your wisdom and your mind before the eyes of the nations.” In other words, “Israel” must perform the corrections and as a result, the “nations of the world” within us will also become corrected.

When we read the authentic sources, it is important not to mix up these things with anything that surrounds us. At first we have to reveal and explore these things within ourselves. Only after that will it be possible to draw some conclusions about the external, imaginary world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If it is impossible to attract the Light that Reforms without studying the science of Kabbalah, does that mean everyone is obligated to study?

Answer: Of course! That is why Baal HaSulam says that everyone has to “sit at the desks.” But what does it mean “to study”? Studying does not happen through the mind. You don’t have to know anything. You have to study only for the sake of the intention to attract the Light so it would influence you and transform your ego to love, unity.

What’s important isn’t the study, but the result. This is called “the Torah,” as it is written, “I created the ego and I gave the Torah for its correction because the Light contained in it returns one to the Source.” The Light transforms your ego, your hatred for the friends, into bestowal, love, and unity.

This is the entire essence of the Torah. You don’t have to understand anything, but only to change hatred to love.

Question: And the whole world has to do this?

Answer: That’s right. But what does “studying” mean for them? It can even mean watching our broadcasts absentmindedly for half an hour a day. That’s enough. They don’t have to understand anything. Of course, it is necessary to give them a general explanation about freedom of choice and unification since they can understand that. But they do not need real study.

Besides, since the souls are connected with one another, our study will influence them. But they will have to make efforts too.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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