Without Rabash’s articles, we wouldn’t know how to aim ourselves at the goal correctly since Baal HaSulam is giving us scholarly advice from great spiritual heights. We are unable to extrapolate the details for our unification from there in order to take even one step and put it in practice. Meanwhile, Rabash starts at the first point and explains each step to us. After that, we are able to understand and put Baal HaSulam’s method in to practice.

When we start approaching the practical Kabbalah, the actual revelation of the Creator, Rabash’s articles and The Zohar become vital to us. Rabash’s articles help us form the correct intention, and The Book of Zohar helps us draw the Light that reveals the spiritual world with this intention.

Rabash has done what no other Kabbalist before him had. He described all the stages of the inner work of man, which is the practical realization of the Torah. He was the only link in the entire chain of Kabbalists, starting with Adam HaRishon, who handed down to us a step-by-step explanation of the individual and group work so vital for us today.

Before Rabash, Kabbalists wrote about their own individual attainment for such was spiritual evolution during the 2000 years of concealment, the exile from spirituality. Before the exile, the people existed in spiritual attainment, so there wasn’t a need to talk about what every child was learning as it grew. However, in order to ascend from concealment in our time, we need the sources that will aim us at the passage into the spiritual world. This can be achieved solely through studying the articles written by Rabash.

Without Rabash’s articles, we would not be able to understand other Kabbalistic texts correctly either. Hence, our work consists of the following two parts:
1.     Studying the articles of Rabash.
2.     Attuning ourselves correctly and proceeding with The Book of Zohar or The Study Of the Ten Sefirot so that we can now work with them correctly and draw the Light that Reforms.

Rabash was very reserved and humble. He always kept himself  in the shadow of his great father. All of his strength and magnitude were deeply concealed within and were impossible to see from the outside. He was the first to start teaching Kabbalah to the non-religious audience, regardless of their background. He considered dissemination of Kabbalah to the masses of paramount importance.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, “Letter 38”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

This is what I have troubled to do in this interpretation, to explain the ten Sefirot as the Godly sage the Ari had instructed us, in their spiritual purity, devoid of any tangible [bodily, egoistic] terms. Thus, any beginner may approach the wisdom without falling into any materialization and mistake [that would distance him away from the revelation of the Creator]. With the understanding of these ten Sefirot [ten major concepts], one will also come to examine and know how to [correctly] comprehend the other issues in this wisdom.
– Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, preceding Part One

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Question: What is learning “from mouth to mouth” by which Baal HaSulam passed the teaching to Rabash?

Answer: Learning “from mouth to mouth” means sharing the screen because “mouth” (Peh) is the location of the screen. Such connection is regarded as “Rucha Be-Rucha” (at the level of Ruach), and this is the type of communication a student should attain with his teacher.

This is the degree of annulment of the lower one’s self, thanks to which he attains connection with the upper one. This spiritual state is not easy to achieve, but at least a student must do what he can in this world, by following his teacher’s advice as if it were a law for him. It is a simple practical recommendation that anyone can use, and it is regarded as the minimal degree of self-annulment before the upper one, which we are willing to perform due to our egoistic interests.

If I desire to gain spirituality from the teacher, I have to annul myself before him like in the army: If an order is given, it’s carried out. The teacher talks about building a correct intention, annulling oneself, exerting effort, participating in dissemination, and everything else that is required of a student. The student, in his turn, must listen. As a result, through the point of connection that emerges, he will receive the Light that Reforms and comprehend what he is told.

In the degree that a student annuls his egoism, he automatically transforms into a form where this understanding occurs through receiving an imprint of spirituality. And through this imprint, we begin to comprehend the teaching. If the lower one annuls himself, the upper one imprints his structure, his 10 Sefirot in the lower one.

Let’s hope that we will earn the reward of Rabash becoming our Teacher.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, “Letter 38”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

We can see that all the interpretations of The Book of Zohar before ours did not clarify as much as ten percent of the difficult places in The Zohar. And in the little they did clarify, their words are almost as abstruse as the words of The Zohar itself.

But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam [Ladder] commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zohar without interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any intermediate student can understand. And since The Zohar appeared in our generation, it is a clear proof that we are already in the days of the Messiah [complete and general correction of humanity], at the outset of that generation upon which it was said, “for the earth [“Eretz,” derived from the word “Ratzon” or desire] shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Rabash described the entire spiritual path that lies before us and explained what we have to do to ourselves in order to receive the Light that Corrects and Fulfills us. There is no other Kabbalist in history who did the likes of this for the sake of the Creator’s attainment. But of course, this became possible because he was the right person at the right time.

It is impossible to even imagine how we could advance without the detailed instruction manual we received from him. Without his explanations we would not be able to actualize the method of Baal HaSulam. Now, when we are nearing the practical realization of this method more and more, we are gaining a better understanding of how much we need the detailed explanations of Rabash.

There are thousands of Kabbalah books of tremendous height, but none of them can be used practically in our time. The same is true for the Torah: It can only be understood by a person who already attains spirituality. However, the only thing that can help a person who desires to enter the spiritual world are the compositions of Rabash.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, “What is the Difference in the Creator’s Work Between the Collective and the Particular ”

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5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: Rabash, The Successor Of Baal HaSulam

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In Letter #38 from the book Fruits of Wisdom, Baal HaSulam writes to his foremost student and son, Baruch Ashlag (Rabash) that a person cannot give up and stop in the middle of the spiritual path. Until a person reaches the goal, he needs the force of constantly overcoming greater and greater obstacles.

You cannot rely on past victories. On the contrary, everything you attained yesterday turns into a new desire today, which pushes you toward the goal even more. Therefore, the things you received yesterday cannot heal your wounds and let you rest.

Until a person attains the final correction, he must take care to ensure that his desire to reach the goal grows at every moment. Everything you attained immediately disappears. A person remains "naked" and that’s how he has to advance.

Obviously, Rabash performed a huge task while being next to his father, constantly being by his side and participating in all the lessons. He was very loyal to his father and always took his side in all the family quarrels that emerged among Baal HaSulam’s relatives. Some of them were opposed to the study of Kabbalah because it set them apart from the religious community.

Rabash was a successful student and he attained spiritual revelation. We cannot tell what height he rose to; he is too great for us to be able to measure that. We can only surmise about his greatness and his huge heart based on the explanations he gave to our states and the need to unite.

We don’t yet realize how deep his articles are and how vital his practical advice is. That is why we must study them all the time.

While working on the articles, the most important things are: 1) to make a concise summary of each article, and 2) to draw conclusions from the summary. Without doing this work, we are not really studying the articles.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 38

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

Indeed, I know the reason: It is mainly because faith has generally diminished, specifically faith in the holy men, the wise men of all generations. And the books of Kabbalah and The Zohar are filled with corporeal parables. Therefore, people are afraid lest they will lose more than they will gain [from their study, and they will receive a greater breaking or egoism rather than correction], since [by reading what is written in the corporeal images] they could easily fail with materializing [rather than imagining the spiritual properties].

And this is what prompted me to compose a sufficient interpretation to the writings of the Ari [TES], and now to the Holy Zohar [Perush HaSulam]. And I have completely removed that concern [of possible incorrect and, therefore, harmful study of the Torah], for I have evidently explained and proven the spiritual meaning of everything, that it is abstract and devoid of any corporeal image, above space and above time, as the readers will see, to allow the whole of Israel to study The Zohar and be warmed by its sacred Light. [This means that, if one studies The Book of Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, he does not need to fear losing his way to the purpose of creation: adhesion with the Creator.]
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 58

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Question: How do we constantly remain on the “spiritual trajectory,” meaning at the point of making a decision that the spiritual space and unity come before material achievements?

Answer: As soon as we succeed in creating this kind of connection between us, “a place for revealing the Creator,” it immediately fades. This is done so that we are able to make this decision again and again. Every moment should be the “Beginning.” And what helps a person to make this constant choice is only a strong environment which allows him to maintain a connection (see Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”).

It is impossible to maintain this decision on your own for longer than a moment. We need to bring ourselves to a correct society, like putting a seed into soil, and receive the realization of the importance of the goal from it. Then you will be able to unite the points of decisions, forming them into a straight line to the goal.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/10, “Rosh Hashanah”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

You should know that after the ARI’s time to this day there was no one [no such Kabbalist] who understood [completely attained] the ARI’s methodology to the very depth of its [original spiritual] roots since it is easier to comprehend it through the intellect twice as big as the ARI’s rather than to follow his methodology [of attaining the Upper One]. [This is because] his methodology passed through so many hands from the first descriptor till the last compiler [who had described it] without having attained these things fully, till their Upper roots, and, consequently, each of them contributed to changing and confusing its content. [The level of a researcher’s spiritual attainment doesn’t depend on his intellect, but rather on the type of his soul].

Here I am – a reincarnation of ARI’s soul – not because of my good deeds, but according to the Upper will which is concealed from me, why I am chosen to represent this miraculous soul that no other man but I merited from the day of his death until today. However, I cannot talk much about this issue because it is against my rules to talk about miracles.
– Baal HaSulam, Igrot (Letters), Letter 39

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Works of the ARI

Rav Isaac Luria troubled and provided us the fullest measure. He did wondrously more than his predecessors, and if I had a tongue that praises, I would praise that day when his wisdom appeared almost as the day when the Torah [methodology of correction] was given to Israel [those who are willing to correct themselves spiritually].

There are not enough words to measure his holy work in our favor. The doors of attainment were locked and bolted, and he came and opened them for us. …

You find a thirty-eight-year-old who subdued with his wisdom all his predecessors through the Genius and through all times. All the elders of the land, the gallant shepherds, friends, and disciples of the Godly sage, the RAMAK, stood before him as disciples before the Rav.

All the sages of the generations following them to this day, none missing, have abandoned all the books and compositions that precede him, the Kabbalah of the RAMAK, the Kabbalah of The First and the Kabbalah of The Genius [those who lived and worked prior to ARI], blessed be the memory of them all. They have attached their spiritual life entirely and solely to his Holy Wisdom.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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