Question: When does a student become close to you like a son?

Answer: When he becomes an absolutely loyal assistant, and for him, when my state becomes more important than his state. This is called “spiritual slavery.”

Only then can we speak about our being close, which is called adhesion (Dvekut). It is because now his whole life is dedicated to fulfilling my mission. Then he “enters” me and follows this path. This is called adhesion: GE of the lower enters the AHP of the upper. This isn’t a single action but continuous work.

On the whole, temptations such as respect, glory, attaining something in this world, and the existence of the egoistic self are very typical of talented students and are very dangerous. They find different justifications for their actions, but there is no justification for that.

Therefore, there are students whom I consciously treat coldly, distantly, reject them, and display a certain hostility and suspicion towards them on purpose, although they believe that I really treat them coldly.

I treat them like a father who shows his son that he doesn’t treat him mercifully, and that he should be on guard. There are those who are repelled by this while others continue to hold on. The righteous follow this way, understanding the right attraction in this rejection as they try to get closer to the teacher, while the wicked flee.

The Creator leads us on an identical path. The teacher’s attitude is simply revealed more clearly to his student. After all, it is the teacher’s job to convey the Creator’s attitude to his student in a more explicit manner.
[115096]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/24/13

Related Material:
External Help For The Sake Of An Inner Connection
Listening To And Hearing The Teacher
Transmitting Spirituality From One Person To Another

Filed under: Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work, Torah | 1 Comment →