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It is considered work, which means working with the desire to receive, and Shabbat is a state where the soul rises above the Parsa to Atzilut, where it is forbidden to work with the desire to receive. If you work with the desire to receive, you fall back into the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya), and even below the Chazeh of BYA. This is called “desecrating Shabbat.”
Therefore, if you want to remain in Shabbat, which is called “observing Shabbat” and which means staying in Atzilut and not falling into BYA, when there is an ascent of the worlds and your soul rises to Atzilut, then there are actions you must perform to remain in Atzilut, and actions you must refrain from in order not to fall from Atzilut. This is essentially all the commandments of Shabbat.
Work during weekdays is called work in the worlds of BYA. Work on Shabbat is called an ascent to the world of Atzilut. Therefore, there are additions and various changes.
Thus, work is forbidden. There needs to be rest. We should sleep, eat more, and there are various such signs in this world corresponding to what takes place in spirituality. We need to eat double because we receive a double portion there.
Such is the root of all the customs we observe in this world. In our world, these are customs. What, are they commandments? If I do something on Shabbat in this world, am I doing something in the upper, spiritual worlds? In the upper, spiritual worlds, I can do something only if there is a screen (Masach) and reflected light (Ohr Hozer), or in other words, I can do something only if I have an intention to bestow.
Instead, the correspondence is very precise. Each world is built from the same elements, just with different material. So in our world, we have the same structure as in spirituality, only it is made of different substance but composed of the same parts. A person, too, is made of a different substance than the spiritual human. And the actions are the same in essence, but expressed in a different form, which is why they appear non-spiritual. There is always the question about what the connection is, and it is only that of branch and root.
Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on April 21, 2002. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.