Sometimes one comes to a state of such lowliness that he does not taste any taste in Torah and prayer. Although he is learning, he knows and feels the truth about himself—that the real cause he is continuing to learn Torah is not because of fear of heaven, but because of habit… To this there is a correction called “minister of forgetfulness” (Rabash, Letter 59).
Rabash writes that we must work against forgetting through corrections. There is a special governing angel, meaning a special force in creation, called the “minister of forgetting,” whose function is to cause us to lose the state, degree, or strength we have attained each time so that it disappears and does not leave us with a sensation of perfection.
Every degree in spirituality is a certain sensation of perfection. When we are on some degree and the light descends upon us, then however small it may be relative to all the subsequent degrees, we still do not yet feel a Hisaron (lack, deficiency). And if a person does not feel a Hisaron, he cannot move from his place, because all movement occurs only through the revelation of a Hisaron.
Therefore, a special force exists that expels the lights from the degree, from the Partzuf, from the soul, each time and compels a person to feel that his inner state has changed. In this way it obligates him to continue on the path. Otherwise, he would remain in the same state forever, which is called observing Torah and commandments out of habit, for the sake of society, or for various other purposes besides renewing contact with the Creator.
How can we make this force, the minister of forgetfulness, act upon us more effectively? This is our work. For when we forget the goal, we do not forget the perfect state itself, but rather feel instead an imperfect one. That is, only part of the state disappears.
Suppose we attained some good state, sensed some closeness to spirituality at a certain moment, and then from above a loss of that degree is induced. Yet we do not feel a Hisaron in it. In other words, although the illumination that existed in that state seemingly disappears, the Hisaronot (deficiencies), the new Reshimot, have not yet been revealed.
The fact is that in this action of the “minister of forgetfulness” a partnership exists between the Creator and the created being. In all his states, even in a great state (Gadlut), a person must work on attaining awareness of the greatness of the Creator. He must not be satisfied with the greatness of the attained state and turn it into self-enjoyment.
Therefore, in order to teach a person that one must never stop working on awareness of the greatness of the Creator, the Creator activates the force called the minister of forgetfulness. The greatness of the state departs, and the demand for the greatness of the Creator is not renewed. This means that suffering does not come to a person because he lost the degree, and then he enters a period of delaying time, stepping onto the path of suffering instead of the path of Torah.
And all this is because during the ascent he did not work on awareness of the greatness of the Creator; that is, he observed Torah and commandments either for himself or for his environment, out of habit, and not for the sake of the goal.
He forgot that all his actions for attaining the goal and correction, called Torah and commandments, are a wondrous force (Segula), the wondrous property of Torah. A person is not changed by the actions themselves, for there is no actual benefit or real influence in them, as those who received improper education believe. They think that through these actions they are accomplishing something and earning something.
It is no coincidence that these actions are called the “wondrous force of Torah and commandments.” Ultimately, all we must achieve through them is to draw the light that reforms, whose wondrous power lies in its ability to correct us. This light comes through study from the proper books, with the proper intention, in an ever more properly directed group striving toward the goal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59
Related Material:
Forgetfulness in Spiritual Work
The Commandment Of Forgetfulness
Costly Forgetfulness
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