There are three conditions for spiritual work in a group.

First, “make yourself a Rav.” A Rav (teacher) is someone greater than me who gives me direction. What he says defines my path. While giving directions, he must always give a student a certain amount of freedom, appear weak, sometimes confused, and sometimes contradict himself. This provides the student with obstacles, various doubts and thoughts about whether the teacher is right; this leaves the student room to perform the action “make for yourself a Rav.”

Second is “buy yourself a friend.” I have to find people who, just like me, go through the same process along with me, and through my investment in them, I will gain strength from them. Because I invested efforts into my friends, these forces become mine—I bought them; I acquired them.

And the third is “judge everyone to the scale of merit.” This means that when I see obstacles from various people, I must interpret it as coming from representatives of the Creator, who are meant to confuse me with various situations that are optimal for the gradual development of my soul toward the Creator.

Thus, there is a teacher before me, toward whom I must act according to the principle of “make yourself a Rav,” there are friends with whom I do work according to the principle of “buy yourself a friend,” and there is the external environment, the whole world, all the others, whom I judge to the scale of merit, to the fact that they themselves do not perform any action at all, but the Creator influences me through them. Thus, I see them only as puppets rather than as characters who are either guilty or righteous in their actions.
[353208]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/26, Rabash, “Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend – 1”

Related Material:
“Buy Yourself A Friend”
Judge All of Humanity to the Scale of Merit
Three Conditions for Acquiring the Quality of Bestowal

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