The joy of this month comes from understanding a very important and basic spiritual law: the Light generated from positive actions can only flow into our lives if we create a vessel for the Light to flow into. That vessel is created when we create true internal change.

Over the years, I have had students of Kabbalah ask me why, despite their great spiritual actions, they still do not see improvements in their lives. The kabbalists provide the answer: spiritual actions must be accompanied by true internal change in order for the Light to be revealed in our lives.

We can perform the actions that have potential to reveal tremendous amounts of Light, but if we don’t create the vessel for its manifestation — true internal change — the peace, fulfillment, and abundance the Light wants us to have will be blocked.

How do we know if we are truly changing? It is not only when we do not react negatively but when we are not even bothered in the first place. The trick of the Opponent is getting us lost in just restricting and not actually changing from the inside.

When another driver cuts you off on the road or when someone speaks harshly to you, are you restricting from lashing out yet still feeling the rage inside? You know you’ve truly changed when your first reflex to the abrasive stimulus is to respond peacefully and patiently.

Let us remind ourselves this month why we are here in this physical world. We are here to become one with the Creator, to make our essence and the essence of the Creator one and the same.

How is that done? Simply put, it’s done by going against the reflexive urges of our human nature. Difficult as this is, this is what we are really meant to do, and what we really want to do at the deepest level of our being.

This understanding should give us a deeper appreciation for the nature of our spiritual work in this month.