Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Thus, the portion that is given into the hands of foreigners will not be secured for any person from Israel because his friends will not be able to provide for those needs, as they will not be in possession of them. Consequently, as long as the individual is troubled with concerns for himself, he is unfit to even begin to keep the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself.”

By correcting the desire to receive to be in order to bestow, we can divide it into two parts:

• One part can be attributed to actions of bestowal, dissemination and connection—when a person yearns to exit himself he gradually advances towards bestowal, towards the Creator.
• The second part is the desire to receive itself, that is still with the intention of in order to receive, thinking only about itself in different manners, which is called “given into the hands of foreigners.”

It is as if a person is “split”: Part of him is in exile and part of him is exiting to redemption. So as long as the egoistic desire controls a person and doesn’t allow him to think about dissemination, bestowal, connection love, etc., this means that it doesn’t allow him to worry about others, through which he learns how to treat the Creator, there is no chance he can come out of exile. By being in his egoistic desires to receive, he begins to receive blows, and having no choice, he doesn’t hope for a better corporeal life anymore because it doesn’t bring him any pleasure, but only suffering.

Then a person is ready to escape from Egypt, from the domination of “the nations of the world,” which means from the domination of his own ego, and is ready to dedicate himself to bestowal. The blows help him decide that it is better to be on the other side, where at least there are no blows. This helps a person to get rid of the part that is under the domination of foreigners, to restrict himself, and to move to the side of bestowal where he begins to make efforts. This is called the “path of suffering.”

At the same time there is the “path of the Torah” where by different actions we summon the Light which reforms our attitude by emphasizing the good and wonderful feeling of bestowal. This Light changes my set of values and lets me feel that bestowal is sublime, respectable, and good. This is how it is depicted to me, and then I am drawn to bestowal more strongly and am ready to restrict the receiving part that now seems contemptible to me. This is how I advance with the help of the Light, in the path of “I shall hasten it.”

We can follow one way or the other, but a person should always see himself as “half guilty and half innocent.” One part of him is under the domination of the friends in the group where he is ready for bestowal and connection, and his other part is under the domination of foreigners. We are talking about this kind of person, not about those who are totally submerged in the passions of this world, who cannot leave them, and don’t feel the aspiration to rise above themselves.
[79660]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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