We must not be ashamed of weakness, thinking that weakness can cool our desire for advancement. There is a “gate of tears” on every step, which only opens after the realization of one’s own helplessness. And how could we even have the ability? After all, advancement happens through additional power of bestowal. We do not have it; we must acquire it.

This is why I am right to discover that I have no ability to advance. And I am also right to discover that I have no desire to advance. What happens next? Just one thing: the right appeal to the Creator through the group for Him to correct the connection between us is made. And then, each time this is done, a new stage of our unity becomes revealed.

A person is unable to do anything on his own. No matter how strong he sometimes thinks he is, no matter how certain he is that he will attain everything; he will fail at everything. It is written: “Do not believe in yourself until the day you die.”

This is why having a group, which constantly awakens the person, is a necessary condition. And for this reason, when a person does not know how to advance and becomes desperate the person’s pride is usually to blame, thus he is unable to receive support from the group.

There is nothing to be ashamed of here; the person just needs to work with it. But essentially, this is the only disturbance. There is an enormous strength in the group. Like in the tale about Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma. He was a great Kabbalist in his generation, and his students were very simple people. But he received a lot of strength from them since he knew how to work with them. And he was a great person! And this tale speaks of small people.

This is why when a person says that the Creator is not helping him, it is his pride speaking. How does it manifest? It is in his inability to cancel himself before the environment to receive the value and greatness of spirituality from it, and to then perceive the power of the Creator who helps him and the realization of the greatness of spirituality.

This is why there is no reason to cry over disturbances. It is written: “My soul shall weep in secret” in concealment, in darkness. Crying is good, but everything depends on what you are crying about: Do not cry over not having help; there is help. You need to cry over the fact that your pride is not letting you lower yourself a little before your friends, the Creator, and receive help from them.
[71614]
From the Arava  Convention 2/24/12, Lesson #4

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Question: I made all the effort to connect with my friends at the convention, but I failed. When it started raining in the middle of the night, I asked the Creator why He opens the skies but will not open my heart? It must be because I “did not ask for it”… So what should we do, continue these exercises or already understand that we are unable to connect on our own and must turn above for help?

Answer: How can you turn above for help if you have not yet become disappointed in your efforts? What if instead of becoming disappointed, you manage to connect?

Every moment you will continue becoming disappointed; these disappointments must open before you in the forms of your broken vessel. Disappointment is not given to torture you and make you creep on your knees to cry out with your last breath to receive help from the Creator. This is not the purpose.

It is a known fact that you cannot do it on your own, but you must gradually collect these disappointments to discover the depth of your desire this way. They show the depth of your spiritual vessel; this is why you cannot escape them. The Creator collects all your efforts and saves them until the day, the special state, when they all collect into one whole vessel.

It is like saving money in this life, adding a dollar at a time. In our spiritual life, you must also collect your disappointments, your failed attempts, and learn from the way they all add up. But you must keep all this inside you, and appear full of strength to the group.

You must be so meticulous and put so much effort into collecting your disappointments, like a small child putting money in his piggy bank. They will later give you the flavor because “the benefit of the Light is attained in darkness.” You gather and collect these dark moments, which at the end connect in all different forms into such darkness that you are able to distinguish the Light. Light itself does not have a form—just the vessel you build for it.
[71638]
From the Lesson #4 of the Arava Convention Lesson 2/24/12

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Question: What is the right way to turn to the friends for help so they would ask the Creator to open my heart, and how should I carry out this request when a friend asks this of me?

Answer: All religions have a custom where a small person addresses a great rabbi or priest, asking him to pray in his stead and paying him money for it. And the latter then turns to the Creator with his request.

But just think: How is it possible to obtain a vessel, a place for revealing the Creator, if you have not built, felt, and realized it yourself yet? How can someone else create this instead of you, having a different root of the soul? How can they make the request and work for you? This is simply impossible. One person cannot do this for another.

Every person has his own root of the soul, so how can someone else, having a different root of the soul than me, carry out my work? He does not have the basis that I have, and neither does anyone else. We can only strengthen and complement one another, but no one can do the work for you.

But in that case, what does it mean to pray for the friends? When we pray for a friend, we ask all together for help to come to him. But after that he has to figure everything out on his own. It’s as if we are bringing him the medicine, our help. And after taking that medicine he can join us with greater force and become our partner. But no one can direct a request upward for someone else.

We can only unite all together and help one another. Therefore, a friend does not turn to the Creator instead of you asking for your correction. He can ask for help for your sake so you would receive the force and begin realizing it yourself.

That is exactly how we act in relation to the whole world, and this is how Kabbalists acted when writing their books for us, through which they conduct the Light to us. This is how every one of us acts in relation to another person. We depend on one another, bringing the Light of correction and fulfillment to one another. But we do not do the work for one another.

Everything happens only between you and the Creator, but with the help of the group. Through the group you come to the Creator. You attain the Creator personally, individually, but through the group.

If a friend turns to you for help, you connect with his desire and your desire becomes twice as big. And then you connect the desires of other friends to it, more and more. It’s preferable to have at least ten people, according to the ten Sefirot in the vessel, and then we make a request all together.

That is why there is a custom to gather at least ten people to pray around a sick or deceased person.
[71635]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #4, 2/24/12

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Here are some pictures from the convention in the Arava Desert, February 23-25, 2012.

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ►

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It says: “There are many thoughts in a man’s heart, but the salvation of the Creator comes in the blink of any eye.” So all our claims are justified, but they should all come down to one claim: We need to reveal the Creator; otherwise, we have no chance to understand, feel, advance, or achieve success. This means that we cannot remain the way we are, not understanding anything and not reaching anything, and we cannot come out of this state.

This desperate, hopeless state is the best; it is exactly the way things should be. It is the revelation of the vessel that really needs treatment. But it has to be revealed as a result of clarifying the problems, the intentions, the “there is none else besides Him” from the start, that everything that I do is in order to reveal the Creator. What do I need it for? Because this is the goal of creation and I bring Him contentment by that.

The revelation of the Creator can only be in our collective vessel, in a collective desire. We build this collective desire from the points in the heart, which we connect when we rise above ourselves. Except for the points in the heart, everything else is our beastliness, and we lower it downwards. Thus we clarify the total structure of our general soul. That’s the way it should be.

The revelation of the Creator takes place unintentionally, which means in great confusion, and it is good. We should only hold on to the thought, to the intention, to the search, and add it to the joy of “what kind of work we, of all people, were given.” You may be dreaming of another place, of sitting at home in front of the TV, in an armchair, watching some series, or something like that. But just think of how special you are of all the billion people in the world, in order to help them, in order to discover Him, in order to serve the friends and in that to find peace and joy.

Now I’ve probably confused you even more….
[71265]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #2, 2/23/12

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To help us identify the intention, to receive or to bestow, special conditions have been: Each one sees himself existing in a big world of still, vegetative, animate, and human nature.

When the intention to receive approaches the very surface of consciousness, a person becomes despaired of this life. He might not yet realize it, but in reality, his despair was evoked by the egoistic intention. Everything is evaluated in relation to the intention, and everything is revealed in thoughts.

We need to clearly analyze ourselves to see the evil of egoism and acknowledge that the altruistic reality, which is opposite to it, may end up being good. This is why we suddenly end up in a group, which is given to us for this reason. No one thought or planned to join it, to study, and to work on establishing a connection with friends. However, since our egoistic intention has exhausted itself, the time has come to elucidate how evil it is. And then we find ourselves among people, who strive towards the same thing: They also wish to figure out what our life is about. And it is nothing like life in the egoistic intention. And even though the realization will come later, the analysis of the situation has already begun.

As a result, these people are gathered by a root, which created our egoistic existence; it gathers them so we would get our lives in order. It brings us closer (also in space) according to the similarity in qualities, that is, our intentions. It does not matter where we live and what we do; we become close in our analysis of the intention and then we suddenly become acquainted with each other. We begin to recognize each other all over the place only by our intention to receive, and we get together only in accordance with it.

All the friends are selected above and come to this final stage of development in our world, coming closer to the line, where it becomes clear that the love affair with egoism has come to an end, it is impossible to go on this way, the time has come to change the vector and move on to a different kind of existence, the intention to bestow.

So we would feel the need for it, the same root has prepared accordingly: Suddenly all our actions show how evil they are, the world appears broken, and we are broken between us. The crisis grasps the entire humanity, and us as its inner part.

• For the masses, this
 manifests as a deterioration of living conditions: They simply cannot live
 as before, even though they are not yet able to discover the cause of the
 events. People want to continue using their neighbors—and they are
 unable to do it. This also makes them recognize the evil, but so far instinctively,
 and not in the form of the egoistic intention: They fail to achieve things
 in the given conditions, and do not know the recipe for success.
• Moreover, there
 is our group where friends recognize the reason: They are failing because of the intention.

People, who identify the intention as the cause of all the evil, are called “the head,” while people, who are simply unhappy, are called “the body.” This way the group becomes “the head” of the entire humanity.

This way, together with his friends, man discovers their breaking, and together they discover the reason for it. And the world, which also discovers the breaking, gradually receives the realization of evil from this group: the understanding of why things are the way they are. This way the group and the world connect between them.

In reality they are initially connected, and they are just gradually beginning to realize it. Soon, we will discover how much the people need our analysis, which uncovers how evil the egoistic intention is, because they are unable to do it on their own. Our objective is to reveal this knowledge to the world, in other words, to provide integral upbringing.
[71257]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #1, 2/23/12

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Question: Since I came to the convention I am talking with the “Pharaoh” in me; I ask him questions and he answers me. He says: “whatever you do, you are enjoying it.” I go to work in the kitchen, Pharaoh says: “it doesn’t matter, you are still enjoying it.” If I clean the toilets, I enjoy that too. Finally I say to Pharaoh that I have one goal for which I came to the convention, another goal to reach the state in which everyone is connected. Pharaoh in me says that even this connection I am waiting for, is eventually for me. If so, what should I do?

Answer: Enjoy! I say this seriously. If I can do different things for the society, both physical and mental, to think about them all the time and to enjoy it, that’s wonderful. Who says that we have to suffer?

But after several such actions, you will suddenly see that you don’t enjoy it anymore. Suddenly you will ask: “What do I need all this for, why?” and so on. Then “Pharaoh” is revealed.

At first there are the “seven years of satiation,” everything is nice in an egoistic manner. Indeed, your Pharaoh is right, he says that whatever you do, you do it for him. So do it for him, like in Egypt in the first seven years of satiation where everyone works doing everything for Pharaoh and then eventually discover that it is the force of evil.

Why does the evil Pharaoh suddenly appear instead of the good Pharaoh? It is because we advance toward the Creator. As we advance, the desire that previously looked good begins to seem evil. The group is good, the study is good, the friends are good, I want to be with them and to be on duty, to clean the toilets, to work in the kitchen, everything is nice and I enjoy every minute that I am in this society—this is how every beginner who comes to the group feels. Then suddenly he begins to feel disrespect, to explode, not to care about anything, he doesn’t feel like doing things and doesn’t want anything: “What duties? What for?”

Why? This is because the “seven years of hunger” begin. What is hunger? A person doesn’t feel pleasure in being in the group, in being with the friends—and this is advancement.

Everything is revealed according to the order of the degrees. We should be happy and serious and follow that line carefully, and accept whatever is revealed along the way. The Torah tells us about it; after all, the Torah is an instruction (they have the same root in Hebrew); it tells us where you will get stuck and what you should do on the way to the revelation of Godliness.

So you have no choice, you have to enter Egypt, you have to do this kind of work, and you have to come out. Only then do you receive the Torah, the instruction of how to advance more clearly.

This is because the Torah is only about the correction of the desires. You correct your 613 desires from the intention of “in order to receive” to the intention of “in order to bestow,” and then you discover the Creator.
[71268]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #2, 2/23/12

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Question: When you are incorporated in a collective action, you sometimes feel united with the friends even in your thoughts, but at the last moment you feel that something is missing, an effort within an effort, the last drop. How can we achieve this last drop so we can come to the general cry, so that we will be able to open our hearts once and for all?

Answer: That last drop is exactly the point of birth, the point of the exodus from Egypt, and it’s the most difficult. A person is ready to go almost to the end, and then he sees a wall in front of him, something he can’t overcome, and suddenly he has endless excuses. His evil inclination tells him, “You still have to take care of this and that, you haven’t studied all of the Study of the Ten Sefirot yet, you don’t know all the Shamati articles yet, there is still so much you have to do,” and so on.

And it’s the same in relation to the friends, meaning that when you actually reach the point that you can now break your ego and connect, to make the welding point between you and the friends, you can’t do it. To create a point of soldering means that this drop of glue will now fall on the connection between you and the friends, and glue you together in a single adhesion. You can’t do that. At the last moment you suddenly pull back.

Only a general effort will help here. Therefore the prayer of an individual doesn’t help. A prayer should be the “prayer of the many,” when you pray for the friends and not for yourself, and when the entire group or most of the group prays together. But you are telling us about an individual effort. You can tell me about an individual effort for another thousand years, nothing will happen to you. The direction is familiar but it’s wrong because you don’t worry about the connection with the friends.
[71426]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #3, 2/24/12

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Question: What is the small effort that needs to be applied by each person in order to open his heart and finally reveal the opening into the spiritual world?

Answer: First and foremost I must include everyone in my heart. You can think it over or keep it in your sensations. It all depends on how you work in the heart and in the mind. You might not want to remain in your sensations; it depends on the person. For me, it helps to add reason because it strengthens my sensation. I absorb everything into my heart and remember that the entire universe is contained within a person, and that he embodies the entire world. I include all my friends in my heart because for the time being I’m unable to include the entire world. If I posses an aspiration toward my fellow friends, then undoubtedly they posses an aspiration toward me as well. We don’t even need to talk about it. I really begin to feel that they exist within me, like a mother that feels her children within.

Thereby I obtain a more accurate perception of reality, which exists within me. Baal HaSulam writes that the picture of the world occurs in the back of our brain and the sensation of the world occurs in our heart. There is no world outside of my sensation.

My heart is Malchut of the world of Infinity, but if I include everyone within me, then I become Adam ha Rishon (the First Man) and the picture of the Creator becomes revealed within me. My material will obtain the form of Adam and when the Creator’s form becomes enrobed in it, it’s called adhesion of the Creator with the creation, or unification of Zeir Anpin with Malchut.

I receive confirmation from every end that all I need to do is absorb all of reality within. I begin this by working with friends because we can influence and help one another. The first opening of the heart depends upon my understanding of the fact that I don’t have another option. I’ve raised my hands in despair, seeing that I haven’t achieved anything. I’ve become certain that there’s no other way to reach the source of life and to attain its purpose. Therefore, I’m ready to open up.

Although it may be that you might decide that you haven’t explored all your options. This is because a person’s egoism always tries to convince him that he can still try to obtain success on his own through different means. Only as a result of becoming totally disappointed one agrees to unite with friends. This is the last thing left for me to do. If I become disappointed with all of my pursuits, if all of my attempts to succeed end in failure, only then as a result of my hopelessness, despair, and extreme pressure do I agree to unite.

This is similar to an infant that would be glad to remain inside the mother, he doesn’t want to leave, but the pressure is pushing him out of her! Do you think that the sons of Israel wanted to exit Egypt? While they were in the desert they already regretted leaving Egypt where they had everything. No one wants to be born into the spiritual world because we’re all egoists. It’s a very difficult transition and that’s why it’s so narrow (Tzar) and it’s called the birthing pains (Tzirim).

It’s said that a pregnant doe goes high into the mountains and until a snake comes along and bites her, the doe will not be able to give birth. The snake represents the worst egoism, and until it becomes revealed in a person, he isn’t ready to be born.
[71428]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #3, 2/24/12

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The prayer of the many means the praying for others. You will come out of the dark, only if you worry about others. This is our only work. But see what we have to go through in this world throughout history in our evolution by different blows and preparations, until we attain this. And what is all this for, meaning science, technology, all these crises, the economic problems, everything? From the negativity of everything around us we’ll reach the understanding that there is no other choice but to connect.

We cannot reach connection directly. Only when a person examines his dealings and sees that they’re futile is he ready to exert himself in the spiritual work. Even then he is not ready, but he comes to the group and is empowered there. He is empowered positively and negatively and then he is ready for connection.

Of course, it is done by blows. The plagues of Egypt are all for connection. We experience disappointments as a group and individually, and this is in order for us to realize our own helplessness and to understand that there is no other way to advance but by connection. Only then will we be ready to exit Egypt. Through all the sufferings, all the plagues of Egypt we read about, all the hard work, and when they wanted to build beautiful cities, through hard, thankless labor, they suddenly discover that they don’t get anything from all that. All the years of hunger they experience, all the plagues are on their ego which doesn’t let them connect.

How many plagues do they have to experience until they understand that there’s no choice but to escape—into the darkness, no matter where or how—only to escape? But this work can be done easily. We are on a different level of development than the level of which the Torah speaks. We don’t have to experience all this physically. They have been through all that already. Every spiritual action must have a copy in corporeality, and this action already took place in history, so now it can take place only in spirituality.

So our path is really much shorter. There is only the spiritual effort left without suffering in material bondage, wandering in the desert, and without going through all those phases. It remains only to make spiritual effort and to connect!
[71435]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #3, 2/24/12

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