From Rabash, Article “Love of Friends”: “And the man asked him, saying: ‘What are you seeking?’” meaning, “How can I help you?” “And he said: ‘I seek my brethren.’” By being together with my brothers, that is, by being in a group where there is love of friends, I will be able to mount the trail that leads to the house of God.

“And the man said: ‘They are departed hence.’” And Rashi interpreted that they had departed themselves from the brotherhood, meaning they do not want to bond with you. This, in the end, caused Israel’s exile in Egypt. And to be redeemed from Egypt, we must take it upon ourselves to enter a group that wants to be in love of friends, and by that we will be rewarded with exodus from Egypt and the reception of the Torah.

We need to understand everything written in the Torah in its authentic, spiritual sense. It’s not important what happened with its actual characters since bodies are of no significance. The matter of the creation is a desire that was deliberately broken into many pieces. We have to find by what forces, programs, demands, impacts, adjustments, and actions it is possible to connect all the pieces back into one desire.

We need to look only at our desires and search for how connect them together. Everyone wants something different because otherwise we would be united in one desire. But because we are different, we can only connect above the desires in intention by mutual support.

We have to sense our friends’ desires, needs, expectations, and goals and help them attain their objectives to the best of our ability. We should help our friends implement their desires; this is the only way unity can be achieved.

Although none of us is like the other and each is quite different, but all of us strive to help the other. And so we suddenly, we see that by rising above our desires with the intention to help one another, we connect. Unity does not take place in desires; it happens in the intention. Thus, we build a new vessel of intention that is above our desires. It is like the head (Rosh) of a Partzuf.

When we realize that this work is not in the corporeal bodies or inside our desires, but solely in the intentions, then we begin to feel the need for friends. That’s why the following is written in the Torah about Joseph: “‘I seek my brethren.” In this case, they become vital for us.

If our aspiration is correct, we are granted unity. Previously, we never thought we could attain unity, nor had we ever strived for it until the property named “Yosef” manifested in us. This property collects (Osef) all our intentions. At this time, we are acting with the help of this force called Yosef (Joseph) that acts between us.

We elevate Joseph above everything else; we extend it beyond our egoism and let it govern our nature; in other words, his reign is put over us by appointing him Pharaoh’s (the desire to receive) first assistant. The will to receive is our nature, and Joseph stands above it controlling this desire and reigns over all of this desire, all of Egypt.

At this point, we are able to work correctly with our desire to receive pleasure. This period is called the seven years of satiation. This is the full measure that can possibly reveal our unity under Joseph’s leadership.

After that, a higher step called Jacob descends to Egypt (i.e. enters the will to receive) because it starts acquiring a structure that connects all the brothers, all kinds of desires, together. This is how a vessel called Joseph is built above the desires.

Since we continue workings with the will to receive at the higher levels, seven years of hunger arrive, the poor cities Pitom and Ramses are constructed. It becomes clear to us that it’s impossible to attain unity within an incomplete desire. And then comes the period of famine, the inability to use the will to receive to feed it without keeping it under the screen, under the governance of the power of bestowal.

After acquiring and working with the small force of desire (Aviut), it becomes possible. When Aviut increases, i.e., a new king who never knew Joseph rises in Egypt, this work becomes impossible again since a bigger will to receive is revealed as a result of shattering. The property of Joseph vanishes, and a new stage called Moses appears, to continue the process of correction.

All is centered around collecting the fragments of desires back together. But inside them grows a force that is opposite to the will to receive, the intention to bestow, as assistance by the rule of contraries. Each time we decide what is more important for us, thus we advance to the point of realizing how essential the Higher Force that controls us is. Then, we rise above our desire to receive pleasure and gather at Mount Sinai.
[130881]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

Related Material:
Formula For Mutual Guarantee
A New King In Egypt Is A Good Thing
Exile Is Separation From Brothers

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work, Torah | Add Comment →