The ten is a raft that saves you in a stormy sea. First, you need to grab it and not let go. When you are already holding on to it and even sitting on this plank of wood, you go through all the ascents and descents, lowering your head before each rolling wave, as Rabbi Akiva did escaping from a sinking ship.

It does not matter what kind of waves they are: in sensation or in understanding, bigger or smaller—I accept them only in order to strengthen my connection with the plank. After all, I depend only on it; if I let it go, I will perish.

To grab hold of a raft means to hold onto the center of the ten and not let go, to be connected with the friends and try to see the purpose of creation in the strongest, most internal connection with them. The Creator is there and the secret of my life is there.

Whatever happens, I will not let go of the connection with the friends. All these images that pass before me cannot disconnect me from: Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one. I am connected to the Creator through the ten and everything that happens is intended only for strengthening this connection: Me—the group—the Creator.

We need to treat the ascents and the descents equally and hold on to the center of the group despite all of the states passing over us.¹

There is no need to leave the lesson! We exit the place of study physically, but in fact, we do not. The Creator has arranged our lives in such a way that we have different times and all sorts of states. Everything is given for the purpose of correction. But we attribute only three hours for correction when we are in the lesson. This is incorrect. What about the other hours?²

To strengthen in faith means to strengthen ourselves in the force of bestowal. Beforehand, I had some force of bestowal through which I was connected to the group to a certain extent. Now, when there is a disturbance, the desire to receive grows and I break away from the group, do not think about the friends, do not notice them. There is no space in my heart and mind for them.

Now I need to work to get them back into my heart and mind at the new degree above the height of the new egoism. I start working inside the group, studying and performing all sorts of actions in dark, with the help of the friends, as it is written: “They helped every one his friend,” until again I draw the reforming Light that will bring me a new force of faith. I am separated from the old faith; I have already exhausted it.

The force that lets a person work in a group under the conditions of concealment is called “the covenant of salt” (Brit Melach), mutual guarantee. When I fall and lose everything, the group gives me strength. And when I rise, I give strength to the one who fell: I awaken him, support him, encourage him, set an example, provoke him, and cause him to envy. We need to constantly act together with the whole group as if we are connected, burning, and ready to reveal the Creator at any moment.³

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/19, The Right Way To Study The Wisdom Of Kabbalah
1 Minute 30:40
2 Minute 32:37
3 Minute 1:00:20

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