Question: How should I feel my group as a result of the workshop?

Answer: The group is “one” because only one soul has been created. And the more I reveal the structure of a single soul, the more I reveal the group.

A group is not a material concept, not ten physical bodies sitting in a circle. The group is what we build above our egoism through the connection between us, downplaying our ego and raising the importance of connection, the Creator, the Light. The farther apart we take these two opposite points, raising the importance of bestowal, love, and connection, there above, we begin to feel as one.

Everyone feels not himself but only this collective one, outside of his body, his thoughts and desires. We all feel just this desire and one thought “as one man with one heart.” This is called the group.

If everyone acts like this during the workshop, we build a common locator in our group, which begins to pick up all the other “units” in the hall, formed from each circle or approaching this. And then I will start to feel through this sensor all the souls of the righteous existing in the spiritual world. This becomes my vessel with which I work in the spiritual world.
[78229]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

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Question: At the Convention I discovered that I do not have a desire to connect with others. How can I receive this desire?

Answer: It is natural that we do not have a desire to connect. We live in a world where disconnection and disunity grow from one day to the next. People hide behind computer screens and mobile phones, and all other means that create an illusion of connection instead of real unity.

But we like this more! 99% of all devices that are manufactured are designed to help a person avoid connecting with others. They create the illusion that we do not have to meet and look one another in the eyes, that it’s enough to look at a small screen and to press buttons. No one looks at one another. People walk down the street like zombies aimed at the destination point, and they practically do not talk to one another.

The whole world is growing more and more distant from one another. My ego forces me to restrict my connection with others to the maximum, so I need a separate apartment and separate food. I build my habitat so that I have all the household appliances in my home and so I don’t have to depend on anyone. Soon robots will do all of our housework and I won’t need anyone at all. A person feels best when he is alone. And if he suddenly gets bored, then he calls someone or sends an e-mail.

With this form of our egoism’s development, the aspiration to unite is simply opposite to our material nature. And it is clear that people coming to the Convention to unite feel uneasy. Moreover, the more developed a person is, the more resistance he feels, as it is written, “One who is greater than his friend has greater egoism.”

This pushes many new people away, as well as long-time, good, strong students, throwing them out of their boundaries. We must understand that this is every person’s natural reaction. And if someone leaves, that does not mean that he is ready for spiritual advancement, but he simply did not receive sufficient support and a patient attitude from others.

Every person should receive the opportunity to work at the Convention and to participate in some way, and gradually, time will do its work. If a person has a great egoistic desire, he cannot immediately accept the fact that we have to be connected.

The average person will happily agree to sit together with everyone and to sing. But for an individualist, who has strong desires – egoism, pride, and love of power – this is unacceptable and unbearable, and he runs away. Therefore, we have to give these people the chance to “cook over a low fire.” It’s like preparing a dish where every ingredient is cooked separately and at different times, and afterwards everything is combined together in one pot. Likewise, there are all kinds of people in the group, and every person has his own cooking time! But in the end everyone will unite and will cook together.
[78308]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/12, “Questions and Answers about past conventions”

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The greatness of Kabbalah is that it gives us the method that enables us to evoke spiritual energy, which corrects our nature and miraculously unites us. We have nothing to worry about; we only gradually need to establish a connection in the group and maintain a fraction of unity and mutual guarantee in mutual actions. This is sufficient to evoke the Reforming Light.

On one hand, there is an enormous journey before us, severe and difficult changes which require immense human effort. But on the other hand, there are no actions that we need to do on our own, the only thing we need to do is evoke the Light, which will do the work.

Many people try to correct themselves on their own, and they assume that this is possible. However, this will never happen; they will become disappointed, stop studying, and leave the group. This is because their efforts are not directed towards the Light, they want to do everything on their own instead of asking like a baby sitting on his mother’s lap asks.

I need to feel that I am in the Creator’s arms, feel that I am dependent on Him. And then, once I understand that any action begins with a request directed towards Him, I will stand next to Him, holding His hand, like a child who does not yet let go of the adult. I will pull Him after me to correct my faults. Once I discover uncorrected thoughts and desires in me, I will consciously and deliberately direct Him towards specific faults that require correcting.

So we grow by bringing out the things that are not corrected between us that are set up by the breaking and asking the Creator or the Light to correct them. Initially, before we know how to talk to Him, we simply point to the problem: “Correct!” Then we will explain to Him what we want just as parents demand for the child to tell about his “misfortune” as if we did not understand what he needs. Here there is a need for communication, reaction, explanation, and the child’s participation, more and more of it. He realizes part of the action, and the adult realizes the other part.

In this way we study the Creator’s “profession,” we put ourselves in His place, until we correct the entire system and acquire His status.

So, make a note in your heart: We do not perform any actions. Regardless of whether we feel bad or good, whether we see any faults, whether we want to correct something, first of all, we need to illuminate the damage as much as possible and then understand that only the Light will correct it. All the actions and connections in the group, the misunderstandings, fights, and other things are evoked by the Creator so we would invite Him to reveal Himself between us. It is written: “The One who establishes peace in His heights will establish peace between us.” The only thing we must do is raise MAN, a prayer, an appeal for correction. I “pray,” which means that I judge myself, become a judge to myself, and then I evoke the force of correction.

This is the way to act, by strengthening the connection between us. Groups must follow this principle and be like organs of a single body caring for each other. After all, everyone who falls also drags down the others. Sometimes events in a group are not caused by the strengthening of egoism before an ascent to the next degree, but by a descent of another group. After all, when a certain part of the body becomes sick, the sickness also transfers to the others.

At first, the right kind of state needs to be established in the groups, and then among the groups. We need to take care of each other, we need to unite and be concerned for our common spiritual health, then over just a few months we will reveal the spiritual world, and in a few years we will complete the correction.

We have not yet begun this work; we don’t yet act consciously and correctly either in groups or in their interconnection. These things come out gradually, we need to be conscious of them and understand them, and for this we need an inner demand. Nothing will come on its own without your demanding it.

So, we need to clarify this rule of mutual guarantee through mutual unity. And we only unite through a common prayer, when we together understand that only the upper Light will establish peace between us.
[78217]
From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

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In order to be balanced with the Creator, to connect with Him, I have to change myself. How is that possible? How can I resemble Him? After all, balance is resemblance.

In order to do this, we were given an environment. Balance with the Creator is attained by balancing with the environment in which I discover Him. The Reshimot (reminiscences) that are awoken inside present the group to me, and my work becomes real, now I’m dealing with something that’s familiar, everything is solved among friends.

How is it possible to find balance with the group? Through mutual guarantee that is the force, the law of balance.

According to this law the entire world is mutually connected, just like cogwheels in a certain system. None of the cogwheels can turn independently without turning all the other wheels and being turned by them. It’s just like two clutch discs when they touch each other.

But the law of development operates in this mechanism. First, the clutch pedal is pressed and the connection between them is still weak. At this point we don’t disturb but rather help one another by spinning and not feeling that we are connected to one whole. The states and nations are separated; some don’t even know that others exist.

With time, the inner ego grows and the cogwheels become more closely connected. In other words the clutch pedal is released and the discs get progressively closer to one another, until they are very tightly connected. This is how all of humanity develops towards mutual cooperation: Countries establish connections, new continents are discovered, international commerce and industry flourish, societies change, the number of different professions grow, and people are becoming increasingly interdependent until they are totally interdependent.

This development is very difficult because the ego and the Reshimot that develop bring us closer together and crowd us, until at a certain moment when this overly tight connection begins to worry us. We can’t detach ourselves from one another to live without each other, even if we want to. Therefore, nature, the Creator, brings us to a new state in which we discover that we can’t break apart any more. If we don’t work out the right mutual connection among us, then we may be destroying ourselves.

Thus mutual guarantee obliges us to be mutually responsible for one another. We are like cogwheels: Any wheel that turns, turns all the others. The clutch pedal is left untouched and the discs come together, the teeth enter each other and we all find ourselves in one huge interconnected system, that doesn’t allow any cogwheel to turn freely. Now all the others have to agree with it, to agree about the direction and the speed. Without this agreement, no one will be able to move.

Eventually everyone will discover a “strange hand around his neck.” Imagine a person lying with an IV without which he may die, but there are several billion taps installed on the tube in which the vital fluid flows. Everyone can turn off his own tap and then, that’s the end.

We will soon feel that we’re in a very unpleasant situation. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed to us in advance, in order to prepare our life to the new conditions. After all, everything comes for the purpose of correction; the question is only how to look at this whole thing. If we know in advance that everything comes to serve the search for the right mutual connection among us, meaning mutual guarantee, then the cogwheels will be arranged as they should and will turn in the right direction, in harmony. Moreover, the mutual balance will help them become balanced with the general force that locks them in the one system together with the Creator. This is how the world will reach the desired correction.
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From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

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Question: How can we be sure that our connection in the group is enough for the work that we want to actualize?

Answer: You can actually discover this if in spite of the friction, you try to connect and work together. Then you work on two levels: Below are arguments, hatred, rejection, and lack of understanding, in other words the ego that separates between us, and above, you are the opposite, connected in love.

In our maintaining both of these levels, you constantly rise in both of them: The ego grows above love, and you hate each other, and then love elevates above the ego, and this happens again and again; similar to how we walk on two legs. The positive and negative constantly substitute each other, like swallowing and regurgitation. The whole life is built on sequence, and it is impossible to advance in any other way.

But if the hatred that grew is depressing love and you agree to this, then the connection between you will be torn, and the group will be destroyed. Thus, one always needs to remember what the Creator says: “I created the evil inclination.” He constantly renews your ego, so that you constantly will rise above it to the good inclination.

In this way you connect to Him again and again. He strengthens your self-love specifically so that you will stretch the connection and ask for help. This process must be as clear to you as the light of the sun. Only in this way, we advance as a group; otherwise, we can expect a collapse.
[77363]
From the Brazil Convention 5/06/12, Lesson 5

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Question: What efforts should the group make in order to attain correction in the same lifetime in which its members discover the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: The efforts should be not to judge any member of the group according to the state he is in. We are all “rags,” as Rabash used to say; we are all uncorrected. All the sins and negative attributes are in each of us.

A person who attains the high spiritual levels discovers on the way disgusting and repulsive desires that he has, and he is shocked by the fact that he can have such desires. It is even impossible to imagine! As a result of the shattering, everyone has all the kinds of desires inside him. Therefore, we mustn’t see anyone as corrupt.

“It takes one to know one.” If I see a flaw in someone, it is only because I am corrupt. If I were corrected, I could see the other according to my level of correction, as totally corrected, because all these degrees already exist. What I see now is the reflection of my ego. It is my ego that depicts this picture for me.

So the main work in the group is to accept every member as your beloved baby. No matter what he does: If he doesn’t let you rest, if he makes a mess, if he breaks everything, you know that it is your baby. This is how you should treat the friend. It is a sign of love.

I speak about a friend and mean that a person can treat others this way too and not someone who just came in and joined the group. Mutual help means to consider the personal states of every individual.
[77624]
From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 2

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Question: After the convention I have a feeling that it was all like a dream, and it’s difficult to realize what happened. How would you sum up the results of the convention?

Answer: This is not easy. If you had known Rabash, you would know how closed he was, concealing himself and not wishing to give any explanations besides the most necessary ones. Yet it is clear that he wanted to give as much as possible to his students, since it is written, “A cow wishes to feed more than the calf wishes to suckle.”

But the problem is the student’s readiness level. The teacher cannot give him an “unripe fruit” since instead of being help, this will harm him and bring him to a halt, a descent, confusion, and then it will take him a long time and great efforts to get out of this state. Everyone will pay dearly for that—both the teacher and the student, as well as those who have to unite with him into one system. This is a very complex calculation.

That is why it is written, “Raise a lad in his own way.” That is to say, the teacher should not give to the student according to the student’s infantile demand, “Give me!” But should do so correctly and deliberately, as befits his level of development.

Clearly, this constantly evokes pressure in the relationship between the teacher and the students. They are shouting to the teacher, “Give to us!” They don’t understand that he can only give them the method but not the actual fulfillment. They will have to receive the fulfillment themselves by realizing this method upon themselves.

Therefore, some people do not think that they are advancing well. Some cannot justify this method and perceive it. Or they might even understand it with their mind, but are not ready to agree with it in their heart. As a result, they start to disregard the teacher, the method, and the sources. And nothing can be done about it—that’s how life is.

I think that we already overcame very difficult stages, and whoever has stayed after this, out of the thousands of people who have gone through here, will go forward. And whoever left might still come back. We are waiting for everyone, the whole world, to join us.

But in the future there won’t be a choice either: all new levels will always be revealed from the side of the vessels, empty desires. Therefore, you must only strictly carry out the advice of the sources and teacher, and after realizing this advice you will receive answers and fulfillment yourself! Fulfillment cannot come from above to an empty place, if there is no vessel.

Let us hope that we have now gained a better understanding of these principles and the order of our work. Many new people took part in the Convention, who do not have the experience we do yet. But by tuning into the common unity, they will be able to learn these principles quickly, just like any new generation relies on the experience of the previous one and receives from it. And we will be happy to give them everything we have so that by tuning in to our world group, they will immediately become just as experienced and knowledgeable as us, and even more so.
[77945]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Under what condition can we demand, draw, and reveal the force of the Surrounding Light, the Reforming Light that will connect us in mutual guarantee so that we will reveal the Creator, the spiritual world? How can we demand this force so that it will correct us? What is needed in order to do so?

Answer: Three conditions must be met:

1) the greatness of the goal,
2) despair from one’s own powers,
3) connection with all the friends.

Then, all together, we will reach the feeling called “the payer of many” after having done everything we can in order to connect.

The Light comes and reforms us. What does it mean to reform? It means a true request. It is the Surrounding Light that brings us the true request.

Therefore, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is the clarifying Light called the Light of AB-SAG, and there is the correcting Light. Here, too, everything takes part in two phases.

First, we do everything that we can. We hold conventions, work in a group, and try to connect, thus summoning the Light that clarifies where we actually are. It lets us feel the greatness of the goal.

At the same time, it shows us how low we are, in a state where we don’t take even one step toward it. However, these two points, the greatness of the goal and the despair from our own powers, create two poles between which there are ten Sefirot.

Then, the potential between them activates the Light of correction. This state is called “prayer” since, in a prayer, there are the two points, the greatness of the goal and the recognition of our lowliness. This internal cry brings us the Light of correction that connects these two points through the ten Sefirot and presents us with the whole vessel.
[77627]
From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Workshop 3

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Question: Is there a difference between man and woman in spirituality?

Answer: No. In each one of us there are two parts: female and male, and with them we advance. However, with respect to the unity in the group, the male and female souls are a little different in their approaches. Women unite according to their strength, whereas men must connect and unite with all their hearts, in the strongest brotherly bonds.

Here, the entire matter is the uniqueness of the soul: The male soul belongs more to GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) and the female to the AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh). But both of these need to attain the most upper level, and along the women’s way, there are no special obstacles.

I very much suggest to and ask the women to worry about the men, push them to unite and connect, stand in a circle surrounding them in order to prevent them from withdrawing. After all the men stay as children all their lives. They don’t have the mechanism of giving birth and worrying about others. He doesn’t change, only grows in size.

On the other hand when a woman becomes a mother, she goes through very serious hormonal changes in one way or another. In her is concealed the same potential, the same longing, the same understanding. Thus she is more connected to life, to nature. She is more logical, more realistic. The ups and downs touch her less than they do a man since her body is used to “swallowing” these blows regularly.

This is the reason that women need to help the men, and this is spoken about a lot in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Without the help of women, the men won’t attain the goal. So take care of them like mothers who cherish their babies.
[77360]
From the Brazil Convention 5/06/12, Lesson 5

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Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for several years now, and this week I will participate in my first convention. How do I prepare my heart and mind for this event?

Answer: We do not have another place, another source, another possibility to receive the spiritual force. The group and studying, conversations, lectures and dissemination—these things are the daily “prose.” Naturally, it also contributes to our unity, however a convention (Kenes) represents something else, a convocation (Kinus) of hearts.

In spirituality, everything correlates with unity, where we draw our strength. Every day we try to speak about it and realize it, we build intentions, have gatherings of friends and special lessons every week; however, these are not the states where it is really possible to receive a big and powerful force that will push us forward like at a convention.

Malchut of the World of Atzilut is called the “gathering of Israel” (Knesset Israel) because it gathers and unites all our desires directed towards the spiritual goal. Essentially, a convention is the building of Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the creation of a corrected, united spiritual vessel. There is no alternative to this.

And this is primarily why I recommend everyone to participate in the convention and to make sure you do not miss it. A person has no other chance to receive the strength for spiritual advancement.

Moreover, based on experience, we know that conventions are followed by not very pleasant times, periods of descent. You need the convention to stock up on strength and gently pass this descent as if it did not exist. It is as if we were leveling the pressure between two poles. We receive the “plus” by gathering together and giving enormous strength to one another, and every one of us receives the “minus” individually after the convention; this negativity divides and separates us. However, I work with it with the help of the common force, which I have received from everyone else, and in the end I correct it.

I do not have another opportunity to correct my minus, my egoism, my “poison” my “angel of death,” my evil inclination. The only thing I can do is become inspired by the common ascent and use it to correct my personal descent. The same happens at the lessons and gatherings of friends; however, conventions are unprecedented chances to draw strength from friends, correct the private evil in you, unite, and support a unified connection with everyone, trying to bestow to them. Thus we advance.

There have been conventions, which were not really followed by descents. But lately we really started “to fall,” and we now understand that there is nothing artificial here. This is necessary for existence; otherwise, we will die spiritually.

The time has come: All our conventions are intended for collecting strength, which later allows us to correct ourselves. I am not going to have fun and enjoy myself, attend lessons and concerts with my friends. No, I need this unity to immediately following this unity, correct my evil inclination, the forces of separation that awaken in me.

This is why it is so important to go to the convention and also very important to maintain a maximum connection between us after it, trying to feel the fight that we are leading. If, after the convention, full of tension and torn by contradictions, I can still evenly pass this stage, keeping the strength I have received from everyone and maintaining myself in the group, if, when I experience a descent, I rise above it, then the “plus” and the “minus” merge into a single whole: The evil inclination—a big egoistic desire—manifests in me, but a screen—the power of unity, which I have acquired—reigns over it.

Let us hope that this is how we use our conventions.
[77442]
From a Lesson in New Jersey 5/09/12, Shamati #25

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