What is the difference between advancing in the work of “love your neighbor as yourself” and the ultimate goal “love the Creator with all your heart and soul”? “Love the Creator” is the final stage when a person’s attitude to the Creator and the Creator’s attitude to man is absolutely equal.

Therefore, we are given work in a group to achieve the stage of love, adhesion with the Creator, and similarity with Him because here we can check ourselves, receive feedback from our friends, invest in them, and have it returned in difficult moments. We go through ups and downs; whenever I can, I do something for the group, and when I cannot, the group helps me.

However, none of these methods work with the Creator. With regard to the Creator, you cross the next degree and make a screen for yourself, which means, to this extent, you are with Him. If you did not, you are not with Him. There are no intermediate states, no possibilities to vary in any way: I feel bad or good, sometimes yes, sometimes no.

There is no “sometimes yes, sometimes no” with the Creator. Everything must be absolute. Every step, every measure of connection with the Creator is perfect in itself. Therefore, we are given the opportunity to model and implement all this in a group, because here, in our state, we can move in different ways.

Although there are two actions of bestowal: between a person and the Creator, and between a person and a friend, actions regarding a friend or a group are more important than actions regarding the Creator.

Why? Because actions toward the Creator will confuse me for now; I cannot relate to Him in any way, because He does not react to me, nor do I to Him. All I can do is create all the prerequisites for a correct attitude toward the Creator through my attitude toward my friend. It is written that relationships with friends can lead us to the last, highest level, because our states are unsteady, uncertain, and are induced by the environment.

That is, the group requires me to treat its members correctly. They demand that I love them and treat them right. This goal is closer to me; I see it; it feels tangible. My states and attitudes toward the group, in various forms, whichever they may be, are controlled and criticized by both me and others. While regarding the Creator, I do not know where I stand or what kind of relationship I have with Him.

This is the difference between an effective short path, when a person correctly accepts a given opportunity and implements it through the group, and a long, ineffective path: I have the Creator, I will figure out this science myself, do not touch me, I myself am smart. The only opportunity we are given to work effectively and accurately is the group. If a person runs away from it, there is nothing you can do.

There is a very simple rule in the Torah: “O Hevruta, O Mituta,” that is, either you are in a group, or you are spiritually dead; there is no third option. It turns out that those smart guys who refused to do this 5, 10, or 15 years ago (I have such examples) suddenly realized they had spent those years in vain, unable to step on their own little ego and just give themselves to this work.

There is nothing you can do: You have to step on yourself; you have to bend yourself. It is unpleasant; you want to run away from it, but there is no other way. The common soul is purposely broken to give us the opportunity, as we work on our relationships with other souls, to find the Creator’s properties there, feel Him, and adhere to Him. Only there in the general Kli.
[362253]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 10/1/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Once a person establishes the Creator as sovereign over everything that occurs and determines that it depends on the upper force, their development proceeds correctly. Then he already connects every quality, every state, every effort, together with its direction and expected result to drawing ever closer to the Creator. At the same time, his perception of the Creator constantly changes and becomes more accurate and moves further from the desire to receive and closer to the true concept of bestowal.

In accordance with this, a person gradually, measure by measure, changes within himself his understanding of what the intention for bestowal is that exists in the Creator, and agrees to this quality, even though he does not possess it. He somehow understands that this is an important and exalted thing, to which it is necessary to get used to, and somehow to gather all the advice and strength to achieve it.

Thus, he must constantly work to ensure that bestowal, no matter how it may appear to him, stands before him as a concept that replaces all other words: the upper world, the Creator, upper force, peace, tranquility, in other words, those words with which he describes something above this world.

After all, we substitute one for another. For us, “upper” is what is good for my ego, what fills it. I can worship anything, as long as my ego receives fulfillment from it.

In essence, this is what is called the golden calf. Here, some kind of image comes into play. Therefore, it is desirable that instead of this image, I build before myself simply an abstract concept called bestowal, and all the time clarify it a little more and more, separating it as much as possible from my desire. This is what the whole work consists of.

And if I constantly hold this at the “head” of the year, that is, of my development, then the study, the books, the teacher, the friends, the group, and all the efforts I make become the means to understand and attain the concept of bestowal. And this, in essence, is the “spiritual,” the “Creator,” whatever you want to call it.
[361577]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/26, Rabash, “The Rosh Hashanah Prayer”

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If a person feels a sense of confusion in their mind, feels exhausted,  and struggles to open one ear or one eye a little bit, this is very good, because the small efforts being made in such moments are not based on self-arousal. At this stage a person is already working precisely with the emergence of new sensations; new, unconscious Kelim are being created. You do not yet feel what you have today, but later this will begin to reveal itself.

When a person attains spiritual vision, they come to cherish such states because they are the most fruitful: At this time, the next degree is being formed within him. He feels it as something empty and confused, while he himself feels tired, egoistic, and somewhat lacking interest: “Where is my former life?” All of this is good! You cannot even imagine how good it is!

You should not push such thoughts away. If you push them away, you will not use the Aviut that is now coming to you, and you need to move forward with it.

Try to adapt to it in complete agreement with yourself. It is very easy to detach from this world and fly among the clouds. Or, conversely, to detach from those clouds and descend into this world. You need to live simultaneously in both, that is, with the inner acceptance that this is how it should be. The Creator must clothe Himself in this world. He must descend into your world and fill it in all your states: at work, in the family, and in everything else.

You should not break something within yourself: “Now I am engaged in the spiritual, and afterward I will deal with this world, where everything is more real.” There is no such division. It is one and the same reality; it is simply that we cannot bring the spiritual reality down into the corporeal in such a way that we can see it. But in reality, this is how it should be.

If we detach ourselves from this world, we will remain a point and thereby stop our spiritual development, which is built solely on containing spirituality, the Creator, the perception of the upper, within everything that exists here in our world, from the lowest corporeal states to the highest ones.

In other words, wherever you are and whatever you are engaged in, business, romance, some advancement, some decision, some quarrels, if you do not bring the Creator into it, if you do not make such efforts, then it is not spiritual work. Spiritual work consists of bringing the Creator into our world and into our states, without leaving anything behind, without escaping anywhere, and containing Him within all of it. We need to fill our ordinary life with such spiritual sensations until, and to the extent that, we begin to perceive the Creator through them, the living force that truly gives life to all of this and moves it.

You should not run away into Kabbalah for two hours a day in order to detach yourself from this world. No! You should do this so that afterward, throughout the entire day, during all the remaining 22 hours, you live by combining everything with what you received. All the energy, all the exaltation, all the impressions you received must be placed into all the remaining 22 hours. Only then can it be considered that your life is truly being realized correctly.

It is not the two hours a day that you spend studying Kabbalah or in dissemination that count. What counts is how, during all the rest of your time, you force yourself to bring into everything what you received during those two hours, how you try to live those two hours throughout all the remaining 22 hours.

Therefore, our daily life is arranged in such a way that we are required to work eight to ten hours. And the Kabbalists obligate a person to work, to participate in the entire life of the surrounding society, under no circumstances to withdraw anywhere, and not to detach himself from the large external world that supposedly frightens him.

We think it would be good to withdraw somewhere from the external world and live there peacefully, creating an artificial world for ourselves. Absolutely not! The Creator did not do anything needlessly: a wife, children, boss, mother-in-law, and so on, all of these are necessary disturbances, into which we need to infuse spirituality.
[362222]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 9/30/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 261

Does the Study Material Change When We Cross the Barrier?

Beyond the barrier, the study material becomes reality itself. What does it mean that beyond the barrier we have a screen of a certain measure? Suppose we have a screen over all our vessels, and while we study and read, our screen works in us according to what we read because we are connected to the book, to the light from the same degree on which the book was written. This light comes to our screen and they operate together. They carry out what we read, and we are present in those very actions.

It is not that we ourselves know how to do this. It simply happens within us, as though we are watching a theatrical performance, or as though we are reading a magic book in which actors appear on the page we are reading and begin to perform in vivid color. We immediately live the reality we are reading about. We attain it immediately.

In our present state, if we intend correctly during the study, we attain surrounding light. We do not actually feel how it shines on us or to what extent it illuminates one particular sentence compared to another. We can go through an entire page of The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the surrounding light will change in all kinds of ways without us sensing it.

We are like a cat in a room of a musician who is composing a symphony. The cat lies in the corner of the room and does not care about anything, as though it hears nothing; whatever it hears is insignificant to the cat. It is simply on a different degree. The musician performs magnificently while the cat sleeps and feels nothing. That is, when the light comes to the screen no longer as surrounding light but as inner light, the light and the screen perform the action. There is a clear order to these actions: we are provided an example of how to perform, and we do so.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 32 “The Reason for Straightening the Legs and Covering the Head During the Prayer” (1986) (8.16.2002)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Studying with Friends

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There are things that we attain, and there are things that we do not attain, and we speak about them, as scientists do in our world. Among them, are those who harbor hatred for each other.

Do you know what the envy of scientists is like and the depth of the hatred involved? It represents the most highly developed ego in our world. The same thing happens in spirituality at very high degrees, because this does not concern the realm of animal desires, money, or honor, but the realm of knowledge, of my “I.”

It is not that I bought some car, and you bought a bigger one. That is not what we are talking about. Here the envy is in attainment, the most significant thing that can exist in a person. Just look at what they do to one another in this world because of it!

And in spirituality, one who rises higher may see different causes than one who is at a lower degree.

Suppose you were to write down what you have gone through, and part of it might be something you have not yet experienced, but you present it as the underlying causes, as something that merely organizes the state you are in. Just start writing, and you will see that this happens to a person constantly.

What you have personally experienced is the truth, because you cannot argue with one’s own feelings: what has clothed within the Kli is not in question. But if you begin to speak about the causes, about what is above this—and you will undoubtedly speak about that as well, even if you are at a small degree—you can be mistaken in this. Therefore, no one has the right to publish anything, and not only because of the politics in this world, but because he can be mistaken in spirituality in a very fundamental way.

With someone who has not crossed the Machsom, even more so; he should be very careful about what he writes.

But even after the Machsom, you can write only about the degree you are on. And as for what may be above this, someone will come from the next incarnation and shatter all my assertions. In fact, throughout life, this is exactly how it is, and not otherwise. Therefore, there is no certainty; it exists only up to a certain degree.

But we do not need anything more, because in reality, it is not important. What do I care about the higher causes, whether I am mistaken about them or not? We see from our own lives that whether we are mistaken or not, it changes nothing. Ultimately, only the amount of effort matters, not whether you understand it intellectually or not.
[360235]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/26, Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”

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Comment: As far as I know, ordinary religious people have the greatest desire to receive.

My Response: The Book of Zohar says such a person wants to “swallow” this world to some extent, so he and his children will be happy here. He also wants to be happy in the next world. It is like he is contributing to the “world-to-come fund,” so something is left for afterward.

This is a natural human desire that cannot be considered bad. This is how a person works if he has not come to genuine work for the Creator, and this is how the masses work. People follow the commandments, do everything necessary, and the truth is, this is how it should be; the framework is needed anyway.

Until a person reaches a high stage of soul development, when he needs the upper one, to really approach religion in the middle line, they will be religious at a level below the middle line, which is called Domem de Kedusha (the inanimate level of holiness or the holy still).

Below the middle line, before development begins in it, there is a point called a religious person in the sense of this world. You see such people, for example, in Bnei Brak [Israel]. This is an inanimate level of holiness, and that is good. Such a person fulfills the Torah and the commandments through the material actions of this world and hopes to receive reward in both this world and the world to come. Everything is in order.

They should not be told what true correction is because they are not yet able to come to it. “Do not put obstacles before the blind.” You just need to not interfere with them and protect them, as Kabbalists have done for all generations. After all, all the holy books were written by people who attained spirituality, Kabbalists, who wrote in such a way as not to touch the people, taking care of them, as they say, “wearing gloves.”

What can you do if so many people have not yet reached development as part of the overall advancement of mankind? We must wait. Man has lived on Earth for tens of thousands of years, and you can see how it manifests: from the time of Abraham to the present day, only a few have really sought to come to religion through the middle line. And without desire, nothing can be done.

Once a person starts wondering, “What is the meaning of my life?”—meaning life in this world in general—and is already striving for spirituality to experience real life there, you can already talk to him. Before then, do not touch him because he will not understand you. His desires, his inner part, are not yet ready to accept anything.

Therefore, if a religious person, what is called a “Jew,” wants to fulfill the Torah and commandments as he was taught, and receive reward for it, please, it is very commendable; this maintains him as a part of the people, saves him for the next correction, which will come when the Creator slightly illuminates his point in the heart. Then he will feel it and begin to develop.

The religious unknowingly think that I am against them and that something is wrong here. I am not against them; we do not touch them at all. We only want to gather those who already feel a point in their heart, who are wondering: “What is the meaning of our life in this world?” for whom such a life has no meaning. For them, we have an answer: Each of them has been chosen to begin their own personal correction.
[360322]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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Question: It is written that a person must become convinced that he is incapable of doing anything about their state, and then turn to the Creator. Where does the stage of restriction (Tzimtzum) come into this?

Answer: Restriction occurs after a person has fully realized their state. This is described in the story of the exodus from Egypt. Restriction occurs when a person receives strength from above, after he himself, through his own efforts, has come to recognize the evil.

As it is written in the Torah, he experiences the “seven years of plenty,” followed by the “seven years of famine.” Initially, he believes that by receiving, he will fill himself and achieve all kinds of success, seeing some benefit in this. But then he sees that the spiritual development of his desire to receive leads, on the contrary, to this desire becoming empty. This is manifested as weakness, an inability to do anything, a lack of desire, apathy toward this world, and it seems we do not succeed in it. Naturally, a person resists this state because otherwise he would simply leave the path.

And then he reaches the state of “Pharaoh,” when the “plagues” overtake him. In other words, we do not despair in our work; rather, we enter a period of blows. If it were not for these blows, we would in any case be prepared, so to speak, to quietly die. However, these blows come in order to clarify the point of “Moses” in relation to the point of “Pharaoh” within us. Both begin to grow from the state called the “seven years of famine.”

But this is only on the condition that, during these seven years, a person “builds Pithom and Ramses”; that is, he sweats and labors, even though he feels that he is in a bad state. And then, upon completing this entire process of opposition between Moses and Pharaoh, a person reaches the point where he “flees from Pharaoh.”

At that point, he already goes, to some extent, above reason: He agrees to flee from his desire to receive “in the middle of the night,” simply so as not to touch it to the extent that he has recognized it as his ruler. And all of this is still before the Machsom! A person has discovered how much evil his desire to receive causes him.

Then, according to the principle “I labored and found,” he receives the strength of restriction from above. But one must always understand to which degree the particular strength of restriction that he receives corresponds. When leaving his Egypt, he receives this strength at the very lowest degree: it corresponds to the desire to receive that he developed in “Egypt” during the “seven years of plenty” and to the evil that he recognized during the “seven years of famine.”

In other words, this is still a very small desire to receive’ you could say, one corresponding to this world. As Baal Sulam says, if we take all the desires of this world, they will be like a spark, a “faint illumination,” in comparison with spiritual desires.

Therefore, a person still lacks the degree that would enable him to hold himself in spirituality even at the smallest level. This is the “crossing of the Final Sea,” the “three days in the desert.” Nevertheless, the exodus from Egypt is already birth, the birth of the screen.
[360494]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/26, Rabash, “What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet”

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Question: On one hand, it is considered that in spiritual work one needs to have a great Hisaron (deficiency, desire), and on the other hand, faith. What are these two poles?

Answer: These are two opposites. The point in the heart is neutral. It is the beginning of the middle line and it is positioned in relation to the light, which always comes into the middle line. And the two opposites, the two extremes, are the qualities of the Creator on the right and, as it were, the qualities of the creation on the left.

These two forces, receiving and bestowing, have been given to you so that you can begin to use them within yourself in the proper proportion. To the extent that you are able to take from the right line, you should take the same from the left line and correctly combine them so as not to be dependent on either one, while constantly being aware that these forces within you are needed in order to attain the goal.

We should use them only in this way. Otherwise, I have no need for them—neither the quality of receiving nor the quality of bestowing. If I use them without a purposeful intention, then I am simply in a Klipa (shell. impurity), either on the right or on the left one. Their proper use occurs when I am between them and want to attain the middle line.

The middle line means that I, and the action I am performing at this moment in order to combine the right and left lines, and the Creator whom I want to attain are all connected together at a single point. In this way, I truly perform the correct action and build the middle line.
[360378]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/26, Rabash, “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

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