Israel Arava Convention – 02.23.12
Posted on February 23rd, 2012
From the lesson before the Arava Convention, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Igrot, “Letter 17″: …there is he who walks, who is worse than he who sits idly. It is he who deflects from the road, for the path of truth is a very thin line that one walks until one comes to the King’s palace.
One who begins to walk at the beginning of the line needs great care so as not to deviate to the right or to the left of the line even as much as a hair’s breadth. This is so because if at first the deviation is as a hair’s breadth, even if one continues completely straight, it is certain that he will no longer come to the King’s palace…
But how is it possible not to err? Of course we will err! Imagine that we are playing a game where you have to shoot and hit a target, like from an electronic rifle or on a computer. But this game is arranged so that you cannot manage to aim, and the sight is always veering off the target, as if deliberately. You place it on the target, but it suddenly jumps to the side. You place it there again, and it runs away again.
This is, essentially, our nature. There is no doubt that I cannot aim precisely at the center of bestowal. After all, in reality, there, at the center of the target, is where the Creator is, the quality of bestowal, love for the neighbor, which is 100% opposite to me. I am unable to go towards it directly, without adding some kind of error, at least a small deviation. And it’s never aiming straight at the target.
Even when I am already rising up the spiritual levels, I am able to achieve the intention of bestowal only in a small part of desires, like in a “very thin line.” And the rest of the “circle” is my huge “stony heart” (Lev HaEven), which I am unable to correct for the sake of bestowal. At every level there are desires that I can correct for the sake of bestowal and advance with them, while being unable to do so with all the other ones. So how can I advance precisely towards the goal? After all, what is required of me is something that I am definitely unable to do!
That is when we are rescued by the notion of the group. Every one of us, with his “sight,” meaning from the very depth of the heart (from the Light of Hochma dressed into the Light of Hassadim, by virtue of which “the heart understands”) aims at the goal. And no single person hits it precisely, because each one has some kind of error, a deviation in some direction from the central point.
But if everyone unites together, each one with his error, then we mutually correct the errors of others. That is how it is arranged. And then we aim precisely at the very center. By virtue of our efforts to unite together, even if they are not sincere, it’s as if we step over the breaking.
[70787]
From the 3rd part of the Lesson in the in the Arava desert on 2/23/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Igrot, “Letter 17″
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From the Constitution of the Arava Convention: During all the days of the convention I commit to disconnect internally and externally from the physical world and to forget about myself. I disconnect myself and am ready to escape from the present state, to jump into the Red Sea, to lose my head, to leave everything, remain naked and destitute, and to accept whatever comes, only because it comes from Above.
We should rise above everything that we are. Constant efforts are required here.
It says: “They helped every one his friend.” If the whole group aspires towards this ascent, to faith above reason, it will work on everyone, and it will be easy for everyone. Now we find it hard to connect, but if we want to use the power of unity, we will suddenly feel a relief.
When the general force operates on a person, the difficulties disappear. He stops fearing, and the current sweeps him away. This is what we must attain.
Actually, all the conditions are easy if we carry them out through unification.
In the convention everyone is responsible for all. It is mutuality, mutual guarantee. Everyone worries about the others, about unity. Inside me I should constantly pray for the friends so that they will connect, so that their desire will finally come true. If this prayer lives inside me, then undoubtedly I am also inside.
[70538]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/2012, Constitution of the Arava Convention
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Question: I have no doubt that we will come to the convention in high spirits and greatly impressed. But what should I do if the situation changes and a descent starts?
Answer: Of course we should expect waves: each of us separately and possibly everyone together. It is clear, but it is above them that we should work. Or do you think that the first contact with spirituality will set you free of all the problems? No, you should delve inwards with all your might and hang on like a bulldog.
When a big dog attacks you, you have to shove your hand into his jaws, as deeply as you can, and then it will have to let go. It is the same here: push forward as hard as you can.
Question: Will I be able to do that by myself?
Answer: You will be able to make everyone follow you, without a word. If you care about them, you “shift yourself and the whole world to a scale of merit.” This is because the spiritual force passes from one to all and from all to everyone. It isn’t just our mutual connection; it is above us.
Question: I don’t understand what the spiritual force is, but I do know what my egoism is. It will pressure me, but I won’t admit it and will hide it. And what if it comes to extremes, to unfounded hatred? I will bring everyone harm, won’t I?
Answer: These waves have been passing through you for years. It is normal, and we should overcome it. No one says that the convention is heaven into which you fly like an angel; of course not.
We gather together and disconnect from the world in order to create an atmosphere that will impress all of us. Then together, we will be able not only to neutralize our evil inclination, but also to overcome and to control it. It will “swell up” under us, like dough, and by staying on top of it we will reach the spiritual level. We have to go through all the thickness of the concealment, which is actually revealed in hatred.
Don’t expect everything to go smoothly, without any mishaps. We want it, we want to rise in one spurt, but each one will have his own thoughts and discernments. So bring all your hatred and don’t fear it. The main thing is that it is stirred up by the desire to connect with all the friends and not by something else.
Question: And what if I see that the friend goes though this state? Should I intervene, or should I leave him alone?
Answer: You must set another example for him: to hug him, to do something without pressure, gently, in order to help him rise. Don’t just ignore it because internally he disturbs everyone. We are all in the same boat; can we let anyone drill a hole in it? You have to envelop him with warmth so that he will be happy, so that he will come out of the descent.
Question: But what if I go wrong: It could be that he is deep in thought and I may think that he is in a descent.…
Answer: Think about everyone’s salvation and everything will be fine. Only love and concern.
[70533]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/2012, Constitution of the Arava Convention
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Question: These days before the Arava convention, the friends are experiencing great pressure and fear of the unknown. How can I help them during the lesson to focus this pressure in the right direction?
Answer: A person should reach such a level of fear and pressure like at the foot of Mt. Sinai: “You either connect or here will be your burial place.” It is because a person should bury his desire to receive, not identify with it, and rise above it. This is called the receiving of the Torah. He asks the Light to perform an action that is the opposite of burial. But he must see that this is what he wants to do with his ego in order to connect with others and to reach bestowal.
Of course, at the same time he must feel tension and pressure. There isn’t a more tense situation in all our lives than this passage. It is birth and birth is a most natural process, but at the same time, it is the most dangerous and dramatic event in a person’s life.
[70514]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, The Zohar
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The Constitution of the Convention in Arava: Our brother, the physical and spiritual conditions that you must observe are before you. Prior to joining us, check carefully: Are you ready, do you realize and feel the importance of the stage to which you connect; do you understand that the Torah, the Reforming Light, will change you so that you love and serve everyone? Do you want this? You should be clear that you come here not to receive, but to receive the force of bestowal.
Even while just reading the story of the Torah about the exodus from Egypt, we see that it involved people of all types: elderly, young, children, men, and women. They differed, some with a great desire to receive, others with a great desire aimed at bestowal. All of them, including Moses and Aaron, were still in the receiving desire. However, the Creator was revealed to them; we will discover what revelations they were.
This is why we open the convention in the Arava to all the men. We do not check whether they participate in all our activities. A person may arrive at the convention but he will not be able to take part in it fully if he does not study during the morning lessons, if he does not pay Maaser (tithe), if he does not participate in the meeting of friends, in their connection, and if he is not involved in dissemination. These are the four conditions according to which a person is my student and a member of Bnei Baruch, a friend for everyone.
First of all, we are talking about physical actions that are followed by deeper levels to the extent a person invests one’s heart and really wants to exert in order to reach the goal. So, there are different gradations.
However, it is never too late to start. We see that this month, more and more people study during the daily Kabbalah lessons and many began to pay maaser because they understood that these funds are dedicated to the dissemination of the method of Kabbalah in the world. In essence, this is our correction. We exist for this purpose: to perform the role of Israel for the world, to receive the method from above and pass it down.
Thus, understanding and awakening are growing in our community; finally, people take the straight path. However, we do not need to be great, we just have to realize the opportunities that we are given. This is what is important.
Many kinds of desires came out of Egypt: children, old, young, men, women, slaves, goats, and sheep. There were all levels: still, vegetative, animate and speaking, but each desire wanted to participate in this fully. A child who is completely ready to take part is also included.
Therefore, we open the convention for everyone. A man can say: “I have been watching the lessons on TV for a long time, and I will try to do the rest.” And he too can come. We turn no one away. In spirituality, only a person can check his heart before the Creator, no one can interfere in this.
However, we ask—and it is very important—that people at least try to be with us during the days of the convention with their whole heart and soul. That is why we put material terms and conditions for the inner work that must be followed.
People who enter the grounds of the Arava convention are obliged to observe the Constitution. They are given all the conditions for participation. If they do not take part in the shared effort, they harm everyone, and this will cause them a lot of damage.
[70541]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/12, “Advice for the Arava Convention”
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Question: I am in a virtual group. If a guarantee of two friends is required to attend the convention, who can sign it for me?
Answer: For now, be concerned about that.
Besides men who left Egypt, there were also women, children, and the elderly. Do you understand that you go to the convention as a “woman,” “child,” or an “elderly person”? Do you understand that your mission is to cancel yourself as much as possible? You do not know how to connect with the friends because a woman cannot connect. But you really want this to happen because a woman has to support this unity in every way.
And perhaps you are a “slave,” that is, you obey your egoism but are willing to serve and help in whatever way needed. You are looking for personal gain, want spirituality for yourself, and cannot disconnect from the egoistic concern about your own good future. However, you are aware of this and understand that you are a slave to self-love, and yet you want to join the spiritual attack.
A “slave” is under the external power; Pharaoh or the Creator rule over him, which is the same because Pharaoh is the Creator’s means. And if you still want to participate, then you come to the convention aware of your degree and put all your efforts to be with the friends.
Either way, you are making every effort, and your possibilities do not depend on you—they are categorized by degrees. If you have exerted a little bit, you are a “child,” if more, you are a “slave,” even more, an “an elderly,” more, a “woman,” and even more, a “man.” You are given strength from Above, but you have to apply it completely in order to try to keep up, to become involved. It is not about your level that is important. A person who is trying his best to be with us, similar to a child clinging to adults, does not interfere at all, but only helps. So, wherever you are, come.
Question: Under what conditions does a person go to the convention as a “man?”
Answer: If a person attends all the morning lessons, pays Maaser (tithe), participates in the gatherings of friends, in all the group activities, and is fully involved in mass dissemination, then he follows the advice of Kabbalists. These are the minimum, physical conditions, not related to the spiritual work yet. This is necessary.
And beyond that, does he really in his soul cancel himself before the group in order to feel the need for unity? This need should give rise to his cry for help, to which the upper Light will respond.
Thus, the external conditions say nothing about a spiritual level; they are necessary, but not sufficient. They can be observed regardless of the spiritual states. And besides that, there are sufficient conditions that you must perform internally.
[70376]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2012, Constitution of the Arava Convention
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Question: How do we reach the correct plea during the congress in the desert? Various desires are constantly changing inside of me and I am afraid that I won’t be able to arrive at the correct thought.
Answer: A person arrives at Mount Sinai in such a state when inside of him there are Moses, Aaron, the Cohens (priests), Levites, and the nation of Israel—600,000 men, it would seem such a force. Even though it exists, it is not yet clear for a person that it exists inside. Besides this, there are women and children inside of him. There are even Egyptians, completely unrelated to the nation of Israel (Yashar El – straight to the Creator), who fled along with them.
Even the mixed multitude (Erev Rav) is intermingled within them, meaning that there are impure forces (Klipot) concealed inside, which cannot be corrected now, but will only be corrected later after all of the corrections. And all of them are standing and facing Mount Sinai before receiving the Torah.
Who must receive the Torah? Everyone receives it to the extent that he needs it, according to these levels. And so, there are strong men under the leadership of Moses who is standing before everyone (the point in the heart), and there are desires that are simply connected to them. While there are also ones who, as soon as possible, even as soon as tomorrow, will cast the golden calf, and will act against the Creator, against Moses, and in general will want to return to the Pharaoh, to make such a revolution.
Such different desires coexist inside a person, yet he still reaches Mount Sinai. He cannot arrive there otherwise! He carries Egypt inside of himself, even Babylon, the whole of the path he has traveled, all of this is inside a person. While now he reaches the so-called resistance before Mount Sinai, bringing the entire burden with him, as yet, he has never corrected anything in himself! He only occasionally felt these qualities inside of himself, one against the other: Babylon and the land of Canaan, and bad and good deeds.
He was imprisoned, confined to a pit by the Pharaoh, and he was also the young Moses who sat on Pharaoh’s knee and grew up in his home. He escaped from Pharaoh’s palace, slew the Egyptian, and suffered from his nation Israel. Everything that is written in the Torah is contained inside of this person who is now standing in the desert of Arava: All of this happened to him.
Therefore, it is important for us to prepare ourselves for unity as best as possible. If you want to be in the mutual guarantee, then you will receive the Reforming Light. You may not receive the correction yet. The giving of the Torah is only the beginning. You are now given the methodology of correction, and from here, you begin to realize the corrections according to this methodology.
This is the receiving of an instruction book that explains how to correct yourself! This is precisely what we should be ready for. There is no need for something more. I must know that I am going to receive the force for such a correct connection with the group, inside of which I will reveal the Creator, the spiritual world, the higher system, the higher dimension.
It is not demanded of us to be righteous people and real friends, feeling love for each other already. I only need to be ready for it, to have the willingness to do so, the need for me to make this calculation and cry from the bottom of the heart that I want to change. That’s all.
I have desires of all levels inside of me, starting from Moses and ending with the mixed multitude; all of them are with me. And the difference between Babylon and the land of Canaan, Egypt and the Mount Sinai is only in the clarifications. All of this is the same desire, only ever more clarifying itself, and that is why, instead of Babylon, it starts to be called the land of Canaan, instead of the land of Canaan, it starts to be called Egypt, instead of Egypt, the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, and so forth.
But all of this is the same desire, just passing through different states bearing such names.
[69496]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/12, Writings of Rabash
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Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), “Purpose of Society 2”: To be integrated in one another, each person should annul himself before the others. This is done by each seeing the friends’ merits and not their faults. But one who thinks that he is a little higher than the friends can no longer unite with them.
For us to be integrated into one another, I have to “annul” myself, lower my head (the black arrow), rather than consider myself equal to the other. Why? After all, we unite and thus have to be equal (the green arrow).
The truth of the matter is that I constantly play with my egoism, which wants to “put me on a pedestal” (the red arrow) all the time. If I withstand and “play down the ego,” I have a chance to reach interconnection.
Question: A very fine work is needed here: On one hand, I want to give my maximum to the group, but on the other, I have to annul myself. One seems to contradict the other.
Answer: This is because we work in confrontation to our egoism. If my attitude towards the friends was neutral, I would have no problems. However, I am “in the minus” from the beginning, and I have to cover it.
The spring of my egoism constantly pulls me upward, to self-importance (a). And thus, to counteract it, I have to apply an opposite force (b). Then out of these two forces the third will be formed (c). This is how we arrive at the formula of interconnection: a−b=c. I don’t have any other choice.
Queston: Does it apply to the Arava convention as well?
Answer: You have to lower your ego before the group all the time and to constantly ascend, awakening the group towards the goal. To raise the group, you need to “come from above,” while your individual work demands self-annulment.
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Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), “They Helped Every One His Friend”: Rather, it is one person who can help another by seeing that one’s friend is low. It is written, “One does not deliver oneself from imprisonment.” Rather, it is one’s friend who can lift his spirit.
This means that one’s friend raises him from his state into a state of liveliness. Then, one begins to reacquire strength and confidence of life and wealth, and he begins as though his goal is now near him.
Rabash, Letter 34: The way is as one who goes to his friend’s occasion. He doesn’t think of himself—whether or not he is in a good mood—but must take part in his friend’s joy. He must not frown, but show a happy face.
One has to see that the friends already sense unity. And if he builds a circle, if he seeks connection with the group, if he wants to be in it, then he acquires joy and forces, both negative and positive. Everything comes to him with the necessary force and in the correct amount so that he reveals the Creator in the interconnection with the friends.
Unification with the friends is a necessary condition for receiving help. But it’s incorrect to think that the friends have to come to me themselves. First (a) I turn to them, and then I receive the strength from them (b):
a – inclusion into the group;
b – receiving strength.
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